Vote expected next week on proposed Car2Go expansion to St. Paul

Minneapolis users of Car2Go's car sharing service may soon be able to drive the popular Smart cars into St. Paul, depending on the outcome of a vote next week.

The St. Paul City Council decided at their meeting last Wednesday to briefly postpone voting on an 18-month agreement with Car2Go that would expand the company's service area across the river starting in mid-July. A public hearing and vote is expected next Wednesday.

The service already has more than 10,000 members (this reporter is one of them) in Minneapolis, with about 350 cars on the streets.

Car2Go's model uses a smartphone app to locate nearby cars, which can be picked up and dropped off at nearly any legal parking spot in the coverage area. Users pay a one-time $35 fee to join and about $.46 per minute while driving, but not for parking.

Because the service is only available in Minneapolis, users cannot leave one of the cars in St. Paul. As a result, cars occasionally concentrate on the St. Paul border.

The proposed agreement with St. Paul would add 185 vehicles to the Twin Cities fleet. Car2Go would pay the city $975 a year per vehicle, largely to cover potential lost meter revenue and residential parking permits. The precise amount will vary depending on how often the cars are parked at meters.

Minneapolis, which has more meters, charged $1,689 per car in their August 2013 agreement.

Council members had several questions about the plan Wednesday, largely about ensuring that the cars don't cluster in one place and the city does not lose parking meter revenue as a result of the deal. But public works representative Paul St. Martin said the downtown meters are currently only earning 40 percent of their potential $18-per-day in revenue.

St. Martin told the council that the aim is to make car-free living easier in the St. Paul by complementing transit, biking and walking. But Transit for Livable Communities submitted a letter to the council expressing skepticism about the effectiveness of the model.

The letter, signed by executive director Barb Thoman, said Car2Go's experiences in Portland and Seattle "raise some concerns." Those include the extent to which users are reducing their public transit usage and how often the cars are being used to commute during peak hours.

Thoman urged the council to mandate that Car2Go provide the city with annual surveys of its users' transportation choices. She also asked whether business districts had been consulted about Car2Go cars using "highly desirable" parking spaces. Separately, Thoman pushed the city to raise parking fees and install more meters.

Adrianne Andang, a spokeswoman for Car2Go, said they have found that 77.9 percent of their members purchase a transit pass and 39 percent said they have reduced the number of miles driven in their private car -- if they have one.