Advertisement

Car2Go plans to reduce Mpls. service area

The plan cuts availability on North Side and southern edge but will offer remote stations.

February 13, 2016 at 11:23PM

Car-sharing service Car2Go plans to reduce its service area in Minneapolis, leaving the blue and white Smart cars largely unavailable on the North Side and near the city's southern border.

The proposed change follows a similar downsizing plan in St. Paul, but comes with a twist: The company said it will create several remote stations to help serve those areas outside the new limits. That hybrid model has not been used in other cities where Car2Go has reduced its service, the company said.

The proposed reduction to the company's service area follows the City Council's vote Friday to officially license and regulate car sharing, which previously operated under a pilot program. That licensing means the service area and remote hubs will be subject to public works department approval.

The company, owned by Smart car manufacturer Daimler, has operated in Minneapolis since 2013 and St. Paul since 2014. It has more than 25,000 members in the Twin Cities. Members in need of a car locate one by smartphone and, after they finish using it, can leave it at any legal on-street parking space in the service area.

Car2Go Twin Cities General Manager Josh Johnson said its intent is to focus service on areas where the cars get more use. They hope it will improve the availability of cars for members.

But the proposal to cut off most of the North Side — the most economically depressed area of the city — drew criticism in August from Council Member Blong Yang, who called it "unfair and inequitable."

The plan "wasn't based on low-income neighborhoods. It wasn't based on the demographics or anything like that," Johnson said. "It was solely based on member feedback and … studying our market for the past two and a half years."

Johnson said cars parked outside the proposed service area sat unused 74 percent longer than the rest of the fleet.

Advertisement
Advertisement

"By proposing these changes, we believe that this is going to help ensure the vehicles are in constant circulation," Johnson said.

Yang said Friday that while he's unhappy his constituents will lose service, the remote stations are a step in the right direction. "It's making it a little bit more accessible than it would normally have been if they just were allowed to … cherry-pick," Yang said.

The location of the remote hubs has yet to be determined, though Johnson expects there will be three on both the north and south sides — likely on-street parking spots. The proposed new Car2Go area ends at West Broadway in north Minneapolis, Lowry Avenue in northeast, 54th Street in south Minneapolis and west of Xerxes Avenue.

To view the proposed service areas for Minneapolis and St. Paul, visit tinyurl.com/Car2GoTC.

Eric Roper • 612-673-1732

Twitter: @StribRoper

Advertisement
about the writer

about the writer

Eric Roper

Curious Minnesota Editor

Eric Roper oversees Curious Minnesota, the Minnesota Star Tribune's community reporting project fueled by great reader questions. He also hosts the Curious Minnesota podcast.

See Moreicon

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement