Here at Cityhop, we spend a lot of time researching what is happening overseas and looking at how major cities are managing their transportation mix. So thanks to the internet we do a lot of reading and learning how other cities are managing their congestion.
It’s also interesting for us to see how other cities support alternatives to car use, like car share. for example, in Washington the council provides over 250 on street car park spaces.
They aren’t on their own – nearly every city provides on-street parks for car share.
In Europe, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organisation Office produced a Transport, Health and Environment report to address the challenges of sustainable transport patterns. In the report they canvas the various solutions cities should consider to address these matters. We were pleased to see their reference to car share, along with car pooling and park and ride as critical to supporting public transport measures to encourage less reliance on cars.
In the United States it is now accepted that car share is one of the “missing links” in any urban transportation system, especially for a “fast-growing urban centre faced with increasingly clogged arteries.”
According to www.carsharing.com, The biggest determinant to vehicle use is vehicle ownership. Car sharing helps people kick the car-owning habit, without going cold turkey, and offers the financial reward of saving money.
“Car sharing should be an important option in every major urban centre. While not a magic bullet to solve all traffic and air quality problems, especially commuter-related issues, it is an important new tool that can deliver real benefits quickly from primarily market-based capital.
The site also says across North America, city governments & transit agencies have finally begun to understand. Cities like Seattle & Washington,DC have always had strong transit support for car sharing, now Philly & Berkeley have replaced part of their city fleet with car sharing; and others are providing on-street and other parking support.
Reducing congestion needs to be a partnership between car share companies like Cityhop and councils. The best car share spots are on the road so that everybody knows they can use the shared car.
