Cityhop New Zealand's first car share service – cars by the hour

Car share is not new to cities like London and many in America. Here, residents deliberately choose not to own a car and have ready access to wheels when they need them through car share companies.These cities support and promote car share. Streetcar says on its website that it has been more successful than the infamous London congestion charge at getting people to drive less.So besides reduced congestion what are the other Positive Impacts of Car sharing. Cityhop is New Zealand‘s first car share company. Cityhop founder, Victoria Carter, has compiled a list of 15 positive impacts from car sharing.The basic principle of carsharing offers positive impacts for those who use it, others in the community and the city where car share operates and then the wider community, the environment, the economy as a whole benefit. Ultimately the whole country benefits from more of us choosing not to own a car and to only use wheels when we need them. See for yourself the cost of car ownership by checking out  Cityhop.If we don’t own a car we have extra money to spend in our community. We usually walk or bike more. And of course our carbon foot print is smaller. We decided to see how many positive benefits there were from car share. We’ve got to 15. 

1. Car share like Cityhop saves  members time, money and hassles
2. Car share supports those who have the occasionally need of a car but make a habit of walking or biking or skateboarding.
3. If you use public transport and have occasional need of a car Cityhop is that sustainable transport’s missing link.
4. Car share supports poorer people (they have cheap effective access when they need a car without being locked into high maintenance bills of using a high mileage older modal car.
5. Car share, like Cityhop, is for anyone, rich or poor, who wants to move about their city easily.
6. Car share reduces congestion – fewer cars on the road = less traffic. Overseas research has proven that each car share car takes up to 20 cars off the road.
7. Car share makes better use of the urban landscape -but smart councils could offer incentives to developers to include a car share space in their large developments so more people can live car free.
8. Car share means more parking is freed up. This has other benefits – like less need for more infrastructures like car parks.
9. Less cars on the road means better air quality and cleaner waterways from fewer emissions.
10. Fewer cars on the roads means improved public safety as pedestrians and cyclists benefit from fewer cars on the road.
11. People who car share have been proven to walk more and drive less after a year of car share so car sharing is good for you and helps fight obesity and other diseases linked to not enough physical activity.
12. Car sharing encourages neighbourliness and co-operative action by citizens. For example – many car sharers consider car pooling. Shall we go to the shops together neighbour? What day suits you?

                   Cityhop can’t wait for the day we put our first car in the ‘berbs.’Now how about these radical concepts:13. Car share supports the local economy 1: Former car owners save thousands per year by not owning a depreciating asset and car sharing when they need wheels 14. Car share supports the local economy 2: Less money needs to be spent on road construction, maintenance and new roads. Lastly the  15th, positive impact – one of the business benefits.  Car share results in a more economic use of fleet cars for businesses. 

Tags: car share, car share Auckland, carshare, Cityhop, drive less, reduce congestion, save money on petrol

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.