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Friday, January 14, 2011

8:51 AM

Carsharing and Shared Vehicle Sessions at TRB 2011










The 90th annual Transportation Research Board Meeting will be happening January 23-27, 2011 in Washington DC.  It's the great annual meeting of academic researchers and industry practitioners.   There are several sessions that include presentations about various aspects of carsharing, as well as public bicycle system and multi-modal connectivity.  Sessions general include several presentations summarizing research followed by questions and answer. Complete information about attending TRB can be found here.


While the conference isn't cheap, it is good and you will be able to to attend many other interesting sessions as well as interact with the leading people in transportation. (Sorry, it is really isn't possible to "crash" sessions without registering.) TRB members get a discount on the conference and can participate in defining the discussion about the research agenda in various areas. 


 Carsharing sessions are sponsored by the the AP020 subcommittee on Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies, chaired by Dr. Susan Shaheen of UC Berkeley.















Below is a summary of the carsharing and shared vehicle sessions at the 2011 TRB:

Hilton, 
Jan 23 2011 1:30PM- 4:30PM; i
ncludes:


Total Connectivity Ideas (P11-0493) 
     Sturges, Dan - IntraGo and 






Raney, Steve - Cities21.org 
Interconnecting Public Transport and Shared Transport (P11-0500) 
     O'Sullivan, Sean - Avego Limited 
Cybercars for Sustainable Mobility – A European Collaborative Approach (P11-0496) 
     Parent, Michel - French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control 
Architecturally Linking All the Pieces (P11-0497) 
     McDonald, Shannon Sanders - American Institute of Architects 
Public-Private Innovation: Implementing Seamless Mobility Linking Modes, Services, Technologies,   
Design, Policy, and New Business Models (P11-0498) 
     Zielinkski, Susan - University of Michigan 
Panel Discussion (P11-0499) 
     Young, Stanley E. - University of Maryland, College Park, 



Liu, Rongfang - New Jersey Institute of Technology, 






Cervero, Robert - University of California, Berkeley, 





Fabian, Lawrence J. - Trans.21, S






haheen, Susan A. - University of California, Berkeley, and 






Andreasson, Ingmar J. - Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden 






Marriott, 



Jan 24 2011 10:15AM- 12:00PM; 


Includes:








Carsharing and Older Adults (P11-0218) 
     Shaheen, Susan A. - University of California, Berkeley 
Older Adults and Walking: The Benefits and the Promise (P11-0219) 
     Ragland, David R. - University of California, Berkeley 
Peer-to-Peer Carsharing: Market Analysis and Potential Growth (11-3463) 
     Hampshire, Robert Cornelius - Carnegie Mellon University 
Volunteer Senior Transportation: The Vanguard of Community Transportation (P11-0221) 
     Freund, Katherine - ITNAmerica 













Hilton, Jan 25 2011 8:00AM- 9:45AM; includes:
Understanding the Factors Affecting Vehicle Usage and Availability in Carsharing Networks: Case Study of Communauto Carsharing System from Montreal, Canada (11-0840) 
     de Lorimier, Alexandre - Quartier International de Montréal, Canada, El-Geneidy, Ahmed M. - McGill University, Canada 
Broadening the Market for Carshare? Results of a Pilot Project in the Netherlands (11-0615) 
     Martens, Karel and Pasman, Sander - Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, Sierzchula, William - Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Estimation of Carsharing Demand Using Activity-Based Microsimulation Approach: Model and Preliminary Results (11-2077) 
     Ciari, Francesco, Schuessler, Nadine and  Axhausen, Kay W. - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
Hangzhou Public Bicycle: Understanding Early Adoption and Behavioral Response to Bikesharing in Hangzhou, China (11-3041) 




     Shaheen, Susan A., Zhang, Hua, Martin, Elliot and Guzman, Stacey - University of California, Berkeley


Meeting of the Subcommittee on Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies, 
AP020 

Hilton, L'Enfant room,  Ja
n. 25, 1:30 to 5:30pm

Hilton, 
Jan 24 2011 2:30PM- 5:00PM; 
includes: 
Typology of Carsharing Members (11-1236) - D08 
     Morency, Catherine, 
Trepanier, Martin, and 
Agard, Bruno - Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada 
There are a number of other topics being presented at this session.


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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

7:54 PM

Millennials Driving Less and Enjoying It More

I've mentioned before that the "younger generation" seems to be developing a different relationship to driving and car ownership than when I was growing up.  

Who better to find out more than Zipcar, which last fall commissioned a survey of 18-34 year olds (one of their sweet spots) and released a short Powerpoint on the results.

The survey of 1025 adults, including 287 Millenials found that:
  • 54% reported they "sometimes choose to spend time with friends online instead of driving"
  • 45% "consciously made an effort to reduce how much I drive"
  • 67% said "If there were more options in my area, such as public transportation, carsharing or convenient carpooling, I would drive less than I do now"
  • 80% "somewhat" or "strongly agreed" that the high cost of car ownership is making it difficult to own a car
The survey reminded us that Millenials have been hit hard by the recession (although they didn't distinguish how hard hip, urban professionals were affected) and that as a group they were already in debt from school.

The survey was picked up by a couple a couple of writers, the best being by free-lancer Jim Montavalli, who wrote a very nice column Why Facebook is better than driving and recycled it several places.  Montavalli was skeptical that this is actually good for Zipcar and, even after talking to Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith seems to not understand that the less you drive (your own car) the more attractive borrowing a carsharing vehicle becomes.

Of course, Millenials, also called Gen Y, are a hot topic in the automotive and probably just about every other industry.  MillienialMarketing.com had a good overview of the research - "What's Not in a Millenial's shopping cart - a car".   BrandChannel writer Sheila Shayan interviewed Ford Motor Company's Sheryl Connelly, manager global trends and futuring,
  • "I don't think the car symbolizes freedom to Gen Y to the extent it did baby boomers, or to a lesser extent, Gen X-ers. [Digital technology] allows teens to transcend time and place so they can feel connected to their friends virtually… we also understand the context in which they use cars has changed. ... It has nothing to do with performance or getting you from point A to point B. It's just a change in what people expect to be delivered." 
Of course, for the time being, this is perhaps primarily a delay in purchase, not an overall reduction.  But I certainly expect the overall number of cars in the US will continue to decline.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

8:37 AM

Big Carsharing Stories of 2010 and reading the tea leaves of 2011

Kevin McLaughlin of Autoshare, and a very astute observer of the industry, has posted his top 10 carsharing stories of 2010 on carsharing.net.   So, with the year end rapidly approaching I wanted to organize my thoughts about carsharing during the year gone by and my reading of the tea leaves for 2011.

Zipcar

Without a doubt the big news of the year was Zipcar taking the first step in its Initial Public Offering (IPO), filing its intent with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.  Scattered throughout the hundreds of pages of the initial filing, and now several quarterly filings since, is a revealing look behind the curtain of corporate carsharing - the financial situation and all sorts of numbers to ponder - vehicles, members, various markets, and profitability.   

The other big Zipcar news was the proposed merger with their biggest competitor in the United Kingdom Streetcar.  Followed by the surprise delay while the UK Competition Commission sought testimony and reviewed the evidence.  Responses, filed by a variety of parties, also pull the curtain back a little bit on UK carsharing - Greenwheel's intention to enter the London market, as well as the benefits and drawbacks to local governments of competition in the carsharing (car club) marketplace, among other things.  In the end the commission has blessed the Zipcar-Streetcar merger. Hopefully, Zipcar will continue the successful aspects of Streetcar's operation at least in the UK. 

And, finally, Zipcar gave observers a year-end surprise again announcing a $21 million round of investment by two US venture capital firms.  With additional funding it appears they will consumate their investment in Avancar in Barcelona before the end of the year.  And, like the merger with Streetcar, this round of financing appears to set up a hoped-for stock price of the initial offering.

So what's in the cards for Zipcar for 2011?  My guess is that the IPO will finally happen, and if the recent addition of 10 vehicles in Hollywood, Calif. (bringing the LA total to 75) as well as adding more vehicles in most other markets (now over 7,000 vehicles) means that Zipcar is ready to get back in the urban carsharing business after several years of belt tightening and concentrating on sweetheart deals on college campuses (now on over 200 campuses).   Zipcar will certainly continue to be a contender in most North American markets and, its excellent branding and marketing and ability to avoid getting distracted by side deals and ideas should serve it well.  

Peer to Peer Carsharing

The other big development for 2010 is the launch of a pilot in Cambridge, Mass. by start up RelayRides.  Although many in the industry have talked about it, RelayRides CEO and founder Shelby Clark persevered to obtain the first P2P carsharing insurance in North America.  And, after almost launching in Baltimore, RelayRides realized that the best place to demonstrate the feasibility of P2P CS was in an area of successful traditional fleet-based carsharing and decided to launch in backyard of Zipcar - Cambridge, Mass.  The pilot test quickly put to rest any doubts that car owners would want earn a little money from their vehicles, and, of course, had no trouble showing that carsharing members were happy to pay $2 per hour less than the competition.

By year's end RelayRides had announced it's first full-scale city launch on the other side of the continent and in San Francisco, the backyard of other P2P carsharing start ups Spride and GetAround.  And Shelby and crew also finally made the internet connection that has eluded other carshares with a major investment by Google Ventures.  

Meanwhile Spride (in partnership with City Carshare) and GetAround both launched their own pilot projects in anticipation of the passage of AB1871, which defined "personal vehicle" carsharing for legal purposes.  The bill makes some important distinctions - when is private vehcile in "carsharing" service, required levels of insurance and specifies that the vehicle owner cannot make more money from sharing than they have in actual expenses.   As yet to be defined is the local, state and federal tax implications for vehicle owners - particularly, if local governments will require vehicle owner's have to get a business license for P2P carsharing?  

For 2011 I think we can look forward to seeing a serious evolution in carsharing in-vehicle technology motivated by the P2P market, and, when that happens, the start of a major expansion of carsharing into much larger areas of cities (and even new cities) that previously could not viably be served by carsharing.  Also on the horizon is P2P car rental, basically a web site/service providing link up between owners and renters but providing only the traditional minimum level of insurance that distinguishes car rental from (most) carsharing services.  Right now JollyWheels is the best example of P2P car rental, operating in six US cities.  In the UK, Whipcar is the prime example.  (An unsuccessful effort in LA closed down during 2010.)

Car2Go 

Meanwhile, down in Austin, Texas, Daimler's innovative demonstration of on-demand, open-ended, one-way carsharing passed the 10,000 member milestone in Austin in November, following the opening up of the project to general public in the spring.  Car2Go claimed 80,000 trips and appears to be doing sufficiently well with their "personal public transportation" model that they expanded the "geofence" area in Austin where trips could be ended.  The no-cost deal with City of Austin provides free use of car2go for city employees in return for free parking in any legal parking space. 

Daimler announced the next city to get the car2go service would be Hamburg, Germany, operated in partnership with EuropeCar, a possible model for the future expansions.  And rumors persist that Vancouver, BC is also on Daimler's radar.   The German manufacturer also showed a special car2go version of their iconic Smart car at the Paris autoshow that will include a solar panel on the roof, improved integration of carsharing technology with the navigation system.

Connect By Hertz

Meanwhile, Connect by Hertz quietly expanded opening up several more world capitals - Berlin, Madrid, joining Paris and London.  And, taking advantage of an opportunity, jumped down under to acquire 5-year old Flexicar, the smallest of Australia's 3 carsharing companies - with 90 vehicles in Melbourne and Sydeny.  

But the bulk of the expansion was responding to RFPs from various college and universities, in many cases competing with Zipcar and Enterprise WeCar for the honors.  Earlier requirements for "guaranteed revenue" contracts were largely abandoned, not only because of competition but also because of greater confidence in what it takes to keep college/university cars busy.   Connect is now on more than 40 campuses in the US and Canada.

Battery electric vehicles were very much in the news in 2010 and Connect By Hertz appears to used it's "connections" with partent company Hertz to put them into service in New York City starting Dec. 15.  EVs in Washington, DC and San Francisco to follow next year, suggesting an expansion in these markets.  Plug In hybrids are already part of the fleets of several carshares HourCar in Minneapolis, Autoshare, Toronto and City Carshare, San Francisco and Zipcar.  (Arguably, this was only the latest round of EVs in carsharing fleets - earlier efforts involved Th!nk EVs by City Carshare in San Francisco and Flexcar in Long Beach, through their association with the Bike Station there.)

In a little noticed move, taking advantage of their Eileo in-vehicle technology, Connect quietly unveiled one-way service in their New York market.  It's a specialized one way service that sure to attract to new members - one way trips to all 3 New York City airports!  Right now cars can only be picked up from a single location in Manhattan (the Hertz rental location at 126 W. 55th).  At $10 per hour to drive to/from the airport, this seems likely to be a huge win for Hertz.  But late flights and traffic jams could really spoil the party.

Other Developments in 2010

In Paris, the ground-breaking city-wide Autolib project moved another step closer to reality with the award of the contract to dark-horse proposal by French start up electric vehicle manufacture, Bolloré.  The company was chosen by the Autolib partnership over several other proposals by consortia of major French companies.  When operational Autolib will allow one-way (or round) trips by 3,000 battery electric vehicles between 1,200 recharging stations in Paris and surrounding communities.  The implications of this service could be the tipping point that will finally bring on a "mobility on demand" lifestyle.

In Janauary, consulting firm Frost and Sullivan got industry juices flowing with visions of the possibility of millions of carsharing members - 4.4. million in Europe and US - a long way from the current 388,000 members sharing 7,600 vehicles at the beginning of 2010.   Assuming a growth 50% growth rate to derive the 4.4 million-member number that seemed rather far fetched to me at the time.  But the possible explosion of P2P carsharing now makes that seem more possible.  Still it will take some major shifts in government policy to “mainstream” carsharing, and those might be happening.

Finally, an event in 2010 that may have major implications for carsharing, and all transportation policy, is the decision by the Obama administration that the Environmental Protection Agency to move forward with regulating GHG by rule rather than waiting for a grand consensus.  But so much is still contingent on digging out of the economic recession, particularly in face of Republican plans to drive the country into bankruptcy so that rich people can have tax cuts.

Happy new year.
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Saturday, November 6, 2010

3:09 PM

First Impression: Nissan Leaf - Good for Carsharing

I took a short test drive in a Nissan Leaf yesterday at SolarWorld offices near Portland and will share some impressions.  To give you a sense of it here's a short video on our test drive.  We got up to 40 mph. on this street.  (That's my wife driving and the Nissan handler talking.)  As you can hear, it's very quiet.
Nissan has done a very nice job on the exterior - it's a lot fresher looking than a Versa, and, for better or worse, not as distinctive as the Prius (perhaps to appeal to the Civic Hybrid mentality?)  Car designer and friend Jose Paris in his itMoves blog had a stronger reaction to the Leaf than I do.  (His blog is well-worth following for his thoughtful and progressive comments on lot's of things automotive.)

I was very impressed with how comfortable and familiar it seemed inside.  It has a similar interior feel to a Prius (which I own).  Although the Leaf is a lot smaller than our Prius it doesn't feel cramped (including the back seat (at least with 1 or 2 people in back).  I thought the performance was amazing - very peppy acceleration (the Nissan handler in the car with us said it would do 0-60 in 10 sec.)  With a quoted 90 mph top speed certainly seems like it would be a comfortable car for freeway driving.  However, the published 100 mile range would be at more moderate speeds!  There's a good amount of room behind the 60-40 split rear seats, which fold down.

Nissan does a good job of addressing the "range anxiety" question - using the nav system map to display circles from your current location showing you available range based on your current battery charge, as well as the map displaying the location of EV charging stations.  (They also claim they'll have roadside assistance providers to give you a boost or a tow if you run out of juice.)

Overall, Nissan has done a great job of putting enough technology on display to appeal to Prius owner and techy types) - a very similar dashboard layout, a navigation system, and even a backup camera.  If has full heater and air conditioning, radio (including optional XM button) etc.

The whole test drive experience was an up-scale production - including a mandatory warm up pitch to wow you with the technology, sell you on electric drive and compare the cost of fuel — electricity in our area is 10¢/kWh and Nissan claimed it would still be cheaper to operate than gas at $1.10/gal. (Presumably this will change somewhat when the equivalent of gas taxes are applied to the electricity for recharge; which will presumably will be facilitated since utilities are creating special low(er) tariff rates for off-peak recharging.) 

This summer I was also impressed (as a passenger) in an equally short (around a couple of blocks) trip in a Mitsubishi iMiev that Sharon Feigon of I-Go Carsharing had on loan.  Also very quiet and much cuter than a Leaf.  The model I rode in was a right hand drive prototype from Japan so it's hard to judge what the interior will be like when they're sold in the US.  The other prospective highway-rated EV out there is the Smart Electric Drive, likely to cost far more than either the Leaf or iMiev but presumably would offer at least some vestige of the Daimler panache.

At this stage, the primary thing that tempers my enthusiasm about EVs right now is that in most parts of the country EVs will make a the relatively low contribution to greenhouse gas reduction.  The problem is so much of our electricity comes from coal-fired electric generation (which we hope will change over time).

So does a Nissan Leaf make sense for carsharing?  Definitely - especially if someone else is paying for the charging stations.  Either the Leaf or iMiev would be an excellent specialty vehicle and should be a good marketing tool for the carsharing company.  Yes, there will be some management issues as customers get used to driving EVs, but they will quickly pass.  (I remember talking with a number of CarSharing Portland driving our Honda Insight (the original one, not the current one) who didn't understand the engine autostop feature and called on their cell phone when the engine stopped at a stop light!)

Given the government money flowing on both sides of the North American border to promote EVs, it's no surprise that a number of carshares will be adding EVs as soon as they're available.  I-Go will get some of the first production iMievs, City Carshare is getting a $2.4 million grant to add 12 Nissan Leafs, 12 Prius Plug In Hybrids and 5 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) along with 24 charging stations. Hertz Connect has announced they will be getting some of the Leafs in the Hertz allocation, as well.  CommunAuto in Montreal has announced they'll be adding 50 Leafs (Leaves?) to their fleet - with 18 stations already on the map.  (Since Hydro Quebec provides such a large part of Montreal's electricity, CommunAuto customers really will be doing their part to reduce GHGs for the planet.)  Hopefully car2go will get some Smart Electric Drives to round out the picture.

Meanwhile there's Altcar the so-called carsharing scheme started in Baltimore last year by Canadian EV manunfacturer Electrovaya renting vehicles the Maryland Science Center (I say it's "so-called carsharing" because after over a year they've still got only 1 station - perhaps that will change?)  In Europe, what may be the under-reported carsharing news of last year, newly revived EV manufacturer Th!nk created an all-electric carshares in Copenhagen, Gothenberg and Oslo called Move About and the Oslo branch recently reported they had signed up their 1,000th member.  Last year Better Place (battery swap company) partnered with the Danish Railways to provide EV carsharing at sevveral stations (but otherwise continues to avow they're not interested in carsharing). And, of course, when it finally launches, the "grand Pere" of them all will be the Autolib service in Paris.
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

8:52 AM

Transport for Suburbia - it's the "network effect"

Most planners, politicians and advocacy groups have written off suburbia as ever having enough population density for public transit.  Yet they are a critical part of getting our energy and greenhouse gas house in order.   The problem, we are told, is "there's not enough density to support transit".

The good news is that there's hope, confirmed in a recent book that I can highly recommend to anyone interested in transportation: Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age by Australian researcher Paul Mees (Earthscan, London, 2009).

Paul Mees "x-rays" these density statements (as he call it), showing where they came from and where they went wrong. He shows that part of the problem is that we've been measuring density inconsistently and the major problem is we are building incomplete transit systems.   The book includes detailed histories of the transit systems in a number of major cities - Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Melbourne, London, Zurich, Auckland, Singapore and Curituba, Brazil - describing how they responded to the highway building and other challenges, such as a privatization.  

He points out that the in the past 20 years the density of many European cities has declined significantly, as they have allowed urban sprawl on their outskirts.  Yet, these areas have much better public transport than almost city in the US with much higher density.  

But Transport for Suburbia is not primarily about density, it's a very readable discussion of the elements high quality public transportation.  The basis, Mees argues, is the "network effect" - providing convenient frequent service with easy transfers, allowing rider to get anywhere from anywhere on the network.  In larger cities this would be high density rail, or bus rapid transit (busways), with feeder buses.  He provides examples showing cities with such systems are more efficient and require less subsidy than other services.

Besides density, Transport for Suburbia takes on some of the sacred cows of transportation planners.  His chapter on privatization is a treasure and he provides recommendations for how agencies can handle it. He argues that traffic congestion on highways is more effective in getting people to consider alternatives than are tolls and congestion pricing.  Along the way you'll learn how the Swiss are able to provide high quality service with longer headways using a technique called "pulse scheduling" and (spoiler alert) why GM isn't responsible for killing the red-line trams in Los Angeles (since ridership was already in decline.  And, Mees describes a transit system in a city of 44,000 people that offers 10 minute bus headways 6 days a week and has a higher transit mode split than London!  (Answer: Schaffhausen, Switzerland)

The book concludes with a series of recommendations that summarize his points very nicely.  If there's anything lacking in Transport for Suburbia, I would have liked a few more illustrations and charts. Parking disincentives for cars are mentioned only in passing and I think he underestimates the value of behavioral change strategies like TravelSmart, individualized marketing programs.  But those are subjects for other books.  And, for what it's worth, he doesn't mention carsharing.

The book is written for citizens as well as planners - it's low on the jargon and is "just right" at 200 pages. You can sample some of the pages from Transport for Suburbia in this preview.  
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Sunday, October 3, 2010

2:00 PM

car2go Austin passes 10,000 members

Free is a very good price if you want to get people to try your product!  And free certainly helped Daimler's innovative car2go personal mobility service in Austin, Texas, to 10,000 members in less than a year.

The Austin Business Journal article reports that about 50% of members are between 18 - 35 years old.  So these membership numbers are all the more impressive since there has not been major the exposure to the University of Texas students until this fall.


Membership growth rates could change somewhat since car2go will soon charge $35 to join, at least that's the pitch when this was written.   But car2go on Twitter and other buzz, such as their active sponsorship of local bands, will certainly help maintain the momentum.

The Austin Business Journal reports that 80,000 trips have occurred since the beginning of the year with the average trip between 30-60 minutes.

Daimler reported 235,000 trips during the first year in their Ulm, Germany, car2go pilot (although I believe there were somewhat more vehicles in operation).  Membership is now 19€ for the Ulm program - about $26 - but one suspects there are on-going promotional deals available there, as well.  Usage rates in Ulm are significantly lower - about 26¢/min. but a little more expensive per hour - $13.60/hr. - at current exchange rates.

A reminder about the basic operating parameters of car2go:
  • On-demand - no need to specify start or end times (see below)
  • One way trip option
  • Park anywhere in a large zone surrounding downtown - several stations are set up in downtown to make it easy to find parking and avoid having to hunt for a space.
  • Pay by the minute - 35¢ or $12.99 per hour (if the trip is over 40 minutes) or even by the day for $65 (if the trip is over 5 hours)
  • Insurance is state minimums (unlike traditional carsharing programs)
  • ONLY Smart cars (you can't rent the Wienermobile in my picture through car2go
In addition to much greater trip flexibility, there are some operational differences compared to traditional carsharing.  For example, although you can make a reservation, it's not for a specific vehicle (which might not be at the location it was when you made the reservation) but for the nearest vehicle to the point you specified (which, in theory, could be very close or some distance away).

The service operates under a special pilot program arrangement with the City of Austin, allowing free parking at downtown parking meters and some parking lots in return for free use by city employees.  An earlier Austin Business Journal report valued the barter deal at $85,000.  The current pilot arrangement expires in November of this year.  Here's a map of the floating parking zone in Austin.  For reference, it takes 15-20 minutes to drive from the north end of the zone to the south end.

Since the number of non-car owning households in Austin is low, as is transit use, it's likely that car2go is displacing other types of trips.  We'll very curious to see what the travel mode shifts are, which we're told, is in the works.  And if we ever see such a study for Ulm, we'll keep you posted, as well.
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Thursday, September 30, 2010

5:07 PM

California Passes Personal Vehicle Carsharing Insurance Law

So-called peer to peer carsharing  (P2P) is one step closer to reality in California with the passage and signing into law of AB1871 introduced by Assembly member Dave Jones.  Referred to as "personal vehicle carsharing" (dare I call it PVCS?) in the California measure, signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger today, the law change was needed because California statute specifically prohibited private car owners from renting out their vehicles.

It's not clear how many other states have laws specifically potentially blocking personal vehicle carsharing.  My guess is that even in states where there isn't a prohibition, including some specific rules about PVCS can help minimize lawsuits.

The changes have been moved along by Spride, a California company founded by high investor Sunil Paul, and City Carshare, the non-profit carshare serving the San Francisco bay area.  Spride and City Carshare immediately released a statement praising the passage of the law and saying that vehicle owners enrolling cars in Spride will have access to City Carshare's 13,000 members when the law goes into effect January 1, 2011.  The statement says that vehicles will be outfitted with the same technology as City Carshare uses - the OpenCar telematics unit.

There have been no comments yet from the other California-based P2P carshare startup Getaround or from industry giant Zipcar.   Meanwhile on the east coast RelayRides, the first peer to peer carshare, which has been operating for over 3 months, continues to grow.  (Disclosure: I am an advisor to RelayRides.)

The bill was introduced and moved by Assembly member Dave Jones (D-Sacramento).  Jones is Democratic nominee for California Insurance Commissioner in this November’s election.  SF Streetsblog reports that Jones "worked with car insurance companies from the beginning to craft a solution amenable to them.   Jones immediately said he would enroll his own car in a P2P program - but didn't say whether it would be Spride or Getaround, another California based personal vehicle carsharing service.

The new law is mercifully short and to the point.  Basically, it:
• Defines Personal Vehicle Carsharing as "privately owned vehicles that are allowed to be used by drivers other than the owner as part of a communal pool of vehicles"
• Defines a Personal Vehicle Carsharing Company as one that operates a service and provides insurance at least 3 times the state minimum for personal auto insurance.

Staffer to Assembly member Jones report that getting the insurance industry and trial lawyers on board with the proposed changes were key to the smooth passage of the bill.

The law has a very important proviso that revenue generated can not exceed the expenses of operating the vehicle.  It outlines eligible expenses as lease or loan payments, insurance,  parking, depreciation, fuel and maintenance.

The law also prohibits personal auto insurers from canceling or not renewing a policy, or classifying the vehicle as "commercial or for-hire" vehicle because it is participating in a personal vehicle carsharing program.

I am remiss in reporting that CommunAuto, in Montreal, Canada, announced in July that they would be offering their members P2P carsharing as well.  CommunAuto proposes to take a very low-tech and low cost approach which would not involve any technology installed in vehicles. In order to participate in CommunAuto's program, vehicle owners would have buy insurance from La Capitale General.

I am working with Oregon State Senator Jackie Dingfelder to make changes in Oregon law to facilitate PVCS, as well.  Our efforts are patterned after the California approach, in order to keep things simple for carshare operators, insurance companies and vehicle owners and renters.  I appreciate the help from Seattle-based Sightline Institute.

Full text of the California law and legislative history and analysis can be found here.
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