‘They are willing to sit down with us’: City exploring options amid Car2Go exit

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — As a popular car-sharing service prepares to bid the City of Calgary adieu at the end of October, city councillors are trying to figure out where to go from here.

The news on Friday that Car2Go will end their service in Calgary on Oct. 31 was met with surprise from most Calgarians, including councillors who rely on the offering.

Car2Go will also cancel their service in Austin, Portland and Denver at the end of October, while taking cars off the streets of Chicago at the end of December.

It said in a media release the decision was motivated by economic factors and a “volatile transportation market.”

Ward 8 Councillor Evan Woolley, who uses the service almost daily, originally wanted to present an urgent notice of motion to Monday’s council meeting, but it was pulled off the agenda as he still has many questions.

“The background on their decision, was it the city’s regulatory process that was a big part of that decision was it the global market at Daimler-Chrysler. A whole bunch of things that I needed to know coming into this,” said Woolley.

Discussions have already begun to figure out where to go from here.

This includes work with city officials to maybe attract new companies, with talks also planned with Car2Go to learn more about their departure and possibly entice them to stay.

“We’re keen to sit down. From our view, is our regulatory framework competitive enough to allow them to operate,” said Woolley. “They are willing to sit down with us.”

It also comes with some tough decisions due to the current state of the economy, as Woolley and Mayor Naheed Nenshi did not seem very keen to leave the door open for subsidies to Car2Go.

“Is Car2Go a service that’s a value to the City of Calgary as a company and to our own revenues, then again what’s the intrinsic value to Calgarians and how do we put a measure on that,” Woolley added.

“Look, it all comes down to math,” said Nenshi. “If we believe that other people will park in those spots and pay the same amount, then we ought not to be offering subsidies to some people versus other people.”

But it is widely accepted this has a lot of value to the people of Calgary, especially as the city experiences its first bout with winter and along with it, mobility challenges.

“In some ways, it’s making it easier to live in Calgary without having your own vehicle. That’s good public policy, and it’s what we call for. So, as a result, there’s a public policy imperative here to give people as many options as possible,” said Nenshi.

Woolley said along with learning how this will impact Calgarians, he also wants to know some downstream impacts — such as to Calgary Transit and taxis or Ubers.

Car2Go will be maintaining operations in several other cities, including the large markets of Vancouver, Montreal and New York City.