| The concept of car sharing has garnered support from a Calgary property developer. Battistella Developments has donated a Smart car to Calgary Alternative Transportation Co-operative (CATCO), which runs a car sharing co-op. The car will be parked in front of Battistella’s condo building Chocolate on 1 Street S.W., but will be available for use by all members of CATCO.
"With the developer getting involved I think it’s obviously quite a step forward. It’s the first time a condo developer has gone the extra mile to provide a vehicle for tenants and other people," says CATCO co-ordinator Cody Torgerson, adding he’d like to see other developers champion the concept.
Torgerson says car sharing hasn’t taken off in Calgary as fast as in Vancouver and Toronto. However, he says CATCO has rapidly expanded in the last year and a half, going from 25 members and two cars to seven cars and 140 members. He says CATCO plans to add two more cars within the next couple of months and is in talks with the University of Calgary to start up car sharing on campus. Another developer has expressed interest in getting involved, he says.
Glen Deibert, sales and marketing manager of Battistella Developments says his company is trying to do what it can to become more environmentally friendly. "If we can somehow contribute to a trend that has people using community cars, hopefully we can help people become more environmentally friendly," he says. "(Chocolate tenants) are pretty excited about the CATCO car sharing program."
Deibert says it makes sense to provide "downtown urbanites" with a transport option other than owning their own car. Deibert says car sharing reduces the need for an increased number of parking lots as the inner city densifies and decreases the strain on roadways, as well as spewing fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Condo owners who don’t buy a parking spot, he says, "receive a significant discount" on the cost of their condo, which makes car sharing financially appealing.
When asked whether Battistella will continue buying cars for its future condo projects, Deibert says "we’ll have to see how it goes."
Battistella is also trying to promote more environmentally friendly transportation at its new condo development Colours by Battistella, also in the Beltline. The developer will be providing 15 mountain bikes for tenants’ use.
Torgerson says the biggest challenge CATCO has is coming up with the funding to buy new vehicles to move into new communities. He says often people express interest in being members but they don’t want to join CATCO until there’s a car in their neighbourhood. Meanwhile, CATCO is reluctant to put cars in neighbourhoods without signed-up members. Currently CATCO only has cars in the inner city but Torgerson is convinced that car sharing could work in the suburbs as well.
"I think car sharing works wherever people want affordable access to transportation," he says, adding that due to Calgary’s vast size it’s difficult to live here without having access to a vehicle. "A lot of people realize cars are a money pit."
Torgerson says an average new car costs between $8,000 to $9,000 a year when you factor in gas, maintenance, car payments and insurance whereas the cost of car sharing is a fraction of that. As well, unlike your typical car payments, CATCO takes Calgary Dollars so members can support Calgary’s alternative currency as well as alternative transportation. For the seriously broke, CATCO has also just decided to take Canadian Tire money. |
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