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BOSTON - Monday,
March 22, 2021 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the City of Boston’s
Transportation Department today announced the expansion of Car Share Boston, a Go Boston 2030 initiative that gives residents an
alternative to personal vehicle ownership, and improves access to car share
vehicles by leasing public parking spaces in municipal lots and on city
streets to car-share operators. The expansion would increase the number of
parking spaces currently reserved for these car-share vehicles from 40 to
250 on local streets and in municipal lots located throughout Boston’s
neighborhoods.
Go Boston 2030, announced by Mayor Walsh in 2017, is the City’s comprehensive transportation plan that aims to
make Boston’s neighborhoods interconnected for all modes of travel by
ensuring that every home is within a 10 minute walk of a rail station or
key bus route stop, bike share station, and car-share.
“I’m glad to expand
the availability of Car Share Boston, which gives residents access to
vehicles that are conveniently parked in their neighborhoods and available
for their personal use,” said Mayor Walsh. “By designating parking spaces
throughout the city, Car Share Boston works to ensure these services are
available in an equitable way to all of Boston’s neighborhoods. Thank you
to all of our partners who helped create this expansion, continuing our
work towards our Go Boston 2030 goals.”
The expansion of
car-share locations is one of the goals of Go Boston 2030. Based on academic research, car-sharing can provide more affordable
access to a car for many residents and can actually reduce the need for
parking. For example, car share members often sell or choose not to purchase
a car, and for every car-share vehicle added to a neighborhood, there are
up to thirteen vehicles removed from or not added to the streets. The Car
Share Boston program, previously named Drive Boston, saw significant
utilization, with an average of 23 different people using these car-share
vehicles each month. Based on the positive results from the pilot, the City
is now expanding the program.
“Car Share Boston
increases resident’s access to cars without increasing the need for
parking,” said Transportation Commissioner Greg Rooney. “In addition to
giving residents more quality and affordable transportation options, Car
Share Boston will also help reduce the City’s rate of carbon emissions.”
To ensure that the
goals of the program are prioritized, Car Share Boston’s requirements and
restrictions include:
·
A
maximum cap of up to 30 dedicated spaces in the Downtown and the Seaport.
If a partner company requests dedicated space in Downtown or the Seaport,
it must locate at least one vehicle in each of four other areas distributed
throughout Boston’s neighborhoods.
·
Partner
companies must have private parking spaces or plans to install private
parking spaces in the City before occupying any dedicated public spaces.
·
No
dedicated parking spaces may be installed on streets with daily overnight
street cleaning operations. For all other streets with street cleaning
operations, partners must clean the area consistent with the City’s street
sweeping schedule, at a minimum every two weeks between March 1 and
November 30, and as reasonably requested by the City.
The City’s partner
companies include Zipcar and Getaround, a new partner in the Car Share Boston
program. Zipcar has partnered with the City of Boston’s car-share
initiative since the pilot program began in 2015. Both partner companies
were selected through a Request for Proposal process.
“Zipcar was born in
Boston twenty years ago, and as we’ve grown into the world’s leading car
sharing network, we’ve kept Boston as our home thanks in large part to the
support of strong partners like Mayor Walsh and his team,” said Justin
Holmes, Vice President, Marketing and Policy at Zipcar. “We’re pleased
to expand this Car Share Boston partnership which will offer more residents
the opportunity to leave behind their personally-owned car and join the
car-free lifestyle that Zipcar membership enables, making the city more
sustainable and reducing congestion, competition for parking and carbon
emissions overall.”
“Getaround was
founded with the vision to empower people to car share everywhere to make
cities better places to live. Getaround’s contactless technology -- the
Getaround Connect® device installed in the car and a smartphone app --
enables people to instantly find, book, and unlock cars from their phone,
without meeting in person to hand over keys,” said Eric Rago, Director of
Location Partnerships & Strategy at Getaround. “The City of Boston has
provided a clear vision for how it will develop a more sustainable and
equitable transportation system and Getaround is proud to partner in expanding
the Car Share Boston program to more neighborhoods throughout the city.”
The City defines the
geographic areas and conditions required for each license. Parking spaces
are chosen based on neighborhood car ownership rates; the average amount of
miles households drive each day; access to public transportation; and the
company’s preference. Partner companies obtain the exclusive use of
each parking space 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the term of the
license. License fees are based upon anticipated parking meter revenue and
the monthly cost of maintaining a parking space in the City of Boston, such
as parking meter and sign maintenance, parking enforcement, street
sweeping, depreciation of technology and snow removal.
Each Car Share
Boston partner has health protocols in place to address health and safety,
and meets the City’s requirements for COVID-19 safety protocols. To learn
more, contact the Car Share Boston partner companies Zipcar and Getaround. For more information on the program and to
find out where new locations will be, visit www.boston.gov/carshareboston
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