Car Sharing ( 9
11 N O RT H BAY B O H E M I A N | A P R I L 2 0 -2 6, 2 0 1 1 | B O H E M I A N.COM
mainstream in a few short years. From 1998 to 2010, membership in North American car-sharing programs grew from 905 to 516,000, according to a UC Berkeley study by Susan Shaheen. Suzanne Smith, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, says that the county is interested in bringing a car share program to the North Bay, but that applications for funding thus far have been denied. “We think it’s great,â€? Smith says. The Transit Authority even entered into discussions with established car-share companies City CarShare and Zipcar, both based in San Francisco, about bringing their model north. Ultimately, the Sonoma County program stalled after grant funding was denied by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Still, Smith sees car sharing as a viable and smart possibility for the county. “There are a lot of ďŹ nancial reasons to not own a car, including the cost of insurance, the cost of the car itself and the cost of gas,â€? says Smith. “Multiple-car families could use this to reduce the number of vehicles they have in their personal eet.â€? Smith believes that such a program might sit well for a community such as Roseland, where studies show that access to a car can be a hurdle for some people. Mike Romano, an insurance agent from PaciďŹ ca, says that insurance is the biggest challenge to building a car-sharing program. “Let’s say you have four or ďŹ ve people driving your car, and one of them kills someone,â€? says Romano. “After your insurance is exhausted, they go after the policy owner—you.â€? But in California, this possibility was mitigated with the January 2011 passing of AB 1871. The new law, the ďŹ rst of its kind in the nation, allows car owners to rent out their cars without having to get livery insurance, the type used by taxicabs. The law stipulates that the money earned must not surpass the amount it costs to own and operate the car.
This law has opened the doors for peer-to-peer car-sharing companies like San Francisco– based Spride, whose founder Sunil Paul was responsible for introducing and lobbying for the law. As opposed to Zipcar, which depends on a eet of cars owned by the company, Spride facilitates the sharing of cars between neighbors online. The organization handles scheduling and all insurance logistics. Members can lend their own cars for a small fee, and those without cars gain easier access to a vehicle. Janelle Orsi, an Oakland attorney who specializes in sharing law, says that while companies like Spride have collective buying power when it comes to insurance, drivers shouldn’t underestimate the power of starting their own personal vehicle-sharing program instead of waiting for Zipcar to deem their communities worthy. “There are ways for people to share cars without programs, as long as they are covered by someone’s insurance,â€? says Orsi. “You wouldn’t want someone to be liable for other people’s accidents.â€? Orsi suggests starting the car-sharing program as a nonproďŹ t initiative, to provide a third-party element. Orsi adds that aside from insurance, the biggest challenge is the administrative technology used to track the whereabouts and mileage of the cars and keep the electronic records required by law. But she sees possibilities for successful car sharing in a place like Sonoma County, especially since AB 1871. Sinnott agrees, and says that while she will continue to practice “pod-sharing,â€? she will convene a Lite Initiatives meeting in June to discuss implications of the car-sharing bill, and to sort out questions about insurance. “It would be wonderful,â€? Sinnott says, “because we do a lot of car sharing already. I hope it spreads, and I can imagine creating a pattern or a prototype that other people could replicate. I would prefer that what we do would be more formal.â€?
0DLQ 6W GRZQWRZQ 1DSD z 192+ 25* IDFHERRN FRP QDSDYDOOH\RSHUDKRXVH
$IULFDQ 5K\WKPV /HJHQGDU\ -D]] 3LDQLVW 5DQG\ :HVWRQ¡V 7ULEXWH WR 'XNH (OOLQJWRQ 6DW $SULO SP 3UHVHQWHG E\ 7KH 1DSD 9DOOH\ -D]] 6RFLHW\ LQ DVVRFLDWLRQ ZLWK 7KH +HDOGVEXUJ -D]] )HVWLYDO 7KH 3DOR $OWR -D]] $OOLDQFH DQG 7KH 6RQRPD 9DOOH\ -D]] 6RFLHW\
$UOR *XWKULH ZLWK $EH *XWKULH DQG WKH %XUQV 6LVWHUV ´-RXUQH\ 2Q¾ 7KXUV $SULO SP 5DQG\ 1HZPDQ 7KXUV $SULO SP 3KLOLS *ODVV 7KXUV $SULO SP 1D /HL +XOX 6DW $SULO SP 3HJL <RXQJ )ULGD\ 0D\ SP 5DQG\ 1HZPDQ -RKQ 3L]]DUHOOL