Car2go car sharing Smart vehicles.
Nicholas Cole, president and CEO of car2go Canada, says car-sharing is not the future of urban transportation, but it is one piece of that future.
"Anytime, anywhere, car2go members in Toronto will have unlimited access to a car through our state-of-the-art car-sharing technology," he said in a release announcing that car2go has come to Toronto and Calgary, joining Vancouver.
Car2go is trying to tap urban types, mostly young people, who only occasionally need a vehicle and they don't need a big one and they not only recoil at gas-guzzlers, they also don't want to spend much.
The basics of being a car2go member are pretty simple. Once you've received a $35 membership, you'll be able to book and drive any available car2go vehicle 24 hours a day. Members can keep the car for as long as they want, "without having to commit to a return time or location," says car2go. Members pay by the minute ($0.35), by the hour ($12.99) or even by the day ($65.99). The daily rates suggests that car2go wants to deter members from using car-sharing as an alternative to a traditional daily rental.
The car2go novelty is really found in two elements. First, members can find an available car using a smartphone app, the car2go.com finder or by contacting the call centre. Think of this as a vehicle drive-and-drop service. That is, members can do their errand or errands then leave the car at a car2go parking spot, ending the rental by swiping a membership car on the windshield reader.
So car2go is mobility for city dwellers who mostly don't need a car, and certainly don't need a car of their own.