Car-Sharing For Cleaner Air
By David Mills

Driving  economically and environmentally is the goal of an innovative car-sharing service established in Ottawa in 2000.

Vrtucar has since April 2000, expanded from the planning to the operational phase. Co-owners Wilson Wood and Chris Bradshaw are looking for members who wish to avoid the costs, responsibilities and pollution incurrred by automobile ownership.

"We want to reduce reliance on the private car while meeting environmental objectives," says Vrtucar spokesperson Wilson Wood. "We consider ourselves an alternative which helps people drive for  economic and ecological reasons."

Vrtucar's 27 members (as of October 2000) currently share two cars, which theybook for the period of time they need for their trip. The vehicles are then returned to a designated parking space. THe cars are centrally located and accessed by keys kept inside adjacent lock boxes. One automobile is parked at Bank and Chamberlain streets, the other as Bank and Sunnyside. A third car is situated at Wilbrod and Friel, convenient to Centretown and Sandy Hill.

The cars are low-emission Toyota Echo 2000. While Vrtucar is interested in the new hybrid gasoline/electric Japanese cars, they are currently too expernsive.

Vrtucar members include frequest, and infrequent users. Frequest users sometimes book a car 15 times in one month. Once someone is accepted as a member, they receive a key to the lock boxes. Members pay a $500 refundable deposit, plus an annual fee of $100 for infrequent users, $200 for regular users and $300 for frequent users. There is an hour/kilometer fee, and frequent users get a reduction. The fees cover parking, maintenance, gas, registration and tax. So far, says Wilson Wood, the cars have been used responsibly. In the several hundred trips done since May, the vehicles have been returned late only three times.

"Our members are satisfied," he says. "People are playing by the rules, and are please and have no complaints."

Vrtucar recruits its members through advertising brochures, articles in local media, their website, and word of mouth. They have set up a reciprocal arrangement with the Montreal car-sharing firm Communauto which allows Vrtucar's members to use Communauto's cars when they are in Montreal. Vrtucar has a similar agreement with a car-sharing company in Quebec City. They will soon have an agreement with a car-sharing group in Toronto.

"When Vrtucar members have a key to one car, they have a key to 150 vehicles in four cities," saya Wood.

Vrtucar has a special rate deal with Budget-Rent-A-Car available through Vrtucar's office for members wishing to drive between cities.

Vrtucar also works with Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization which gives tax-deductible receipts to car owners who donate their used automobiles which would otherwise be junked. Friends of the Earth refers these donors to Vrtucar.

"There is a lot of interaction going on," says Wood. "We want to grow, develop other rate plans, other ways to utilize our fleet of cars. Vrtucar is a part of a transportation infrastructure, along with the public transportation systems, trying to meet clean air objectives.

"Car-sharing really does reduce the amount of driving and encourages people to drive environmentally and responsibly."

For more information, call Vrtucar at 1.613.798.1900. You can also visit their website: www.vrtucar.com

(David Mills is on the PEN Editorial Committee.)

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