Friday, February 11, 2011

CAR-SHARE GROUP APPROACHES WOOLWICH COUNCIL

Oh boy, maybe this could be a tough decision. It's not that the dollars involved are large so much as does Council want to set a precedent. Tomorrow's Woolwich Observer (out today) has the following story "Car-share group seeks support for Elmira service". I can't state how fabulous I think the whole idea is. I truly believe that there is a demand and that it is growing for part time car "ownership". Many people who don't have a daily commute still badly need reliable transportation perhaps only two or three times a week for shopping and errands that they can't do on foot. From an environmental standpoint, having a car available by appointment will certainly help people lump their errands together and reduce impulse and last minute driving.

The decision for Council of course will be whether to fork over the upfront $30,000 to this worthy cause. This organization is a non profit cooperative and the municipality's loan would assist with both costs and ability to attain the required membership . Currently Grand River CarShare (GRCS) has 400 members sharing 16 vehicles.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    Thanks for posting this Al and great to hear that there is support for CarSharing in Elmira. Its good to hear that we've found an additional supporter in the community.

    Are you considering joining as a member? It's important that anyone who is interested sign up at our website: www.grandrivercarshare.ca or give the office a call at 519-578-1895. If we don't know that there are people interested, we won't know when to launch the cars!

    As for the line of credit, staff are researching and writing a report at the moment so the details are not finalized. But, lines of credit already exist with several levels of government, including the Region of Waterloo, City of Waterloo, City of Kitchener, and City of Cambridge, so really a huge precedent has already been set. The Township doesn't need to "fork over" $30,000 and all loans will be repaid with interest, which is great for an environmental initiative.

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