A Family's Perspective on Carsharing
We recently featured “The Girl, Her Dad, and the Future of Public Transit” by Rob Jones, a great article where he shared his experience of taking transit with his daughter. Although his experiences were largely positive, logistics and time factors led him to the decision that it was necessary for him to get a car. Rob also mentions that as a parent, he felt that a carshare co-operative would not work for him.
We couldn’t help but want to talk to a family who use a car co-operative service and find out what they thought were the pros and cons to carsharing?
Jennifer answered our call to speak with a carsharing family. Jennifer and her husband Peter have two boys, ages 5 and 2.5. They’ve been members of a carsharing co-op for six years. “It's an affordable way to have a car when you need one.” says Jennifer.
“We live in Kitsilano, we’re pretty active; walk a lot to get groceries, or walk to the beach and other parks in the neighbourhood. We will ride our bikes if it’s a nice day.”
But what about the drawbacks of using a carsharing service with two young children?
“The only challenge is getting the kids car seats to and from the vehicles. But once the kids are both in booster seats, it won’t be an issue at all. One car in the co-op fleet in our neighbourhood has built-in car seats. This is very handy, I just wish there were more of them!” Jennifer and Peter have figured out some work-arounds to make the booster seat issue easier – sometimes one of them will get the car. If Jennifer or her husband is on their own, the lone parent will load the stroller with the car seats and walk five minutes to the car (sometimes less time).
Luckily for Jennifer’s family, there are about six vehicles within a two to five minute walk distance. Because of the volume of cars, it’s easy to book a car last minute. And walking to find the car? That turns into a game for the kids. “The kids have fun trying to locate the car, they know the logo!”
But certainly a family must make changes in order to accommodate such a shift away from having a car at constant disposal? Is this a solution only for the uber organized at heart? “I wouldn’t say it has forced us to plan any more than any other family with young children. The only thing we have to plan for is getting the cars back on time, but I can usually get an extension on the booking if I am running behind, or if we end wanting to keep the car for a few hours longer." explains Jennifer.
Apart from the savings from not having to pay for gas, insurance, and the related maintenance costs, Jennifer found that not having to be 100% dependent on a vehicle made her family feel like part of the community.
Would Jennifer recommend carsharing to others? “Of course! It’s an affordable way to have wheels! I think car sharing is the best thing since chocolate.”
Vancouver currently has three carshare co-op companies to choose from, car2go, Modo the Car Co-op and ZipCar. If you've used a carshare service before, tell us what you think! Would you recommend it and why?