PRESS RELEASE April 16, 1999 For more information contact Kate White Phone 510/251-6332 [email protected] A New Mobility Option for San Francisco Car Sharing Gala Fundraising Event Tuesday April 20, 1999 600 - 800 Sierra Club 85 Second Street, 3rd Floor Tickets $20 at the door This Tuesday night City CarShare, an innovative new carsharing project, is hosting their first public event. Speaking will be Tom Ammiano, President of the Board of Supervisors; Beryl Magilavy, President of Sustainable City; and Rachel Peterson, Executive Director of Urban Ecology. Supervisor Ammiano is expected to announce the car sharing component of his new Clean Air legislation. City CarShare believes San Francisco needs a non-punitive way to wean ourselves from over-dependency on cars. The City is literally being over-run with vehicles. Much land now given over to the automobile should be used for housing people, open space and recreation, and badly-needed public amenities. To address this problem the Organizing Board of City CarShare is founding non-profit car-sharing, an innovative mobility service that makes vehicles available to people on a per-use basis. City CarShare hopes to open for business by the end of 1999. The project is inspired by dozens of car-sharing projects already successfully controlling the impact of the automobile and helping people get around in Europe and Canada. Switzerland's Mobility Car Share has close to 40,000 members, and offers a free rail and bus pass with every membership. What is Car-Sharing? A neighborhood-based, time-share car rental, car-sharing allows people to use vehicles when needed, and to pay based on how much they drive. Members can take cars on an hourly or a daily basis, to fit the exact length of their trip. Cars are kept in small neighborhood lots, within easy walking distance. When members want to use one, they call the 800 number and reserve it. Members save money on insurance, maintenance, repairs, registration, and monthly payments. They pay only for the amount they drive, based on a combined hourly/mileage charge. At the end of the month, they receive a bill in the mail, like any other utility. Solving the Urban Transportation Dilema The logic of car sharing is this individual car ownership encourages use. By the time a driver has paid the fixed costs of insurance, financing, and registration, they have an incentive to get their "money's worth" by driving as much as possible. The added costs of each extra trip are small when compared to the amount of money they've already spent just to own the car. As Elizabeth Sullivan, City CarShare Board Member and Manager of Neighborhood Parks Council puts it, "Car-sharing makes it easier for people to give up their personal car and to switch to more sustainable ways of getting around. For the environment, that translates into reduced emissions, less fossil fuel consumption, and less waste from manufacturing new cars. For San Francisco, it means greater ridership of public transportation, less space devoted to roads and parking lots, and more space available for the things that make our city great." ********************************************* Kate White Realize the Vision Program Director Urban Ecology 405 14th Street Suite 900 Oakland, CA 94612 510-251-6332 f. 510-251-2117 [email protected] www.urbanecology.org