How Does Carsharing work?

Once you become a member you can access any Greater Forest Lawn Community Carsharing vehicle within 24 hours, though you will most often use the one located closest to you. Here is how it works:

You decide when you need the car and how long your trip will take. Be sure to allow extra time in case you are delayed by traffic or an appointment that goes longer than expected.

You reserve the vehicle using our online reservation site. If you have any trouble figuring out how the reservation system works, there are phone numbers you can call to get help. If you have a computer and access to the Internet at home, you can book the car anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you don’t, there are places in the community that provide computer access; hours of operation and cost will vary.

You can also reserve the vehicle by calling our office or the automated carsharing help line.

Once you’ve reserved a vehicle you can walk, ride your bike, or take a bus to the vehicle which has a designated parking space. Locations and maps for these locations can be found on the “About Us” page of this website.

When you join you will be given a key fob which will allow you to lock/unlock and start any of the carsharing vehicles that you have reserved. This key fob is also used with the onboard computer located in each vehicle to calculate time of use and the millage the members drive. When you are finished your trip, you must return the vehicle to the designated parking space.

How Much Does it Cost?

Member Deposit
When you join you will have to pay a Member Deposit. This deposit covers the deductible on our insurance policy, in case you have an accident where you are determined to be at fault. If that happened, your deposit would be used to pay any damages not covered by insurance. Otherwise, the deposit is returned to you if you ever decide to leave Greater Forest Lawn Community Carsharing.

The amount of the deposit is $500 for an individual or family membership and $500-$1000 for a community group, non-profit organization or business (depending on the number of people who will be driving the carsharing vehicles. We realize that $500 might be a lot of money for some people to pay so we may be able to provide you with a no-interest loan that you can pay back over time. You can still join carsharing right away and use a vehicle while you are paying back the loan.

Our rates
Carsharing is a very inexpensive alternative to owning a car because you only pay for the time you used the car and the kilometres that you drove. Our current rates are:

$2.50 per hour plus
$0.25 per kilometre

Credits
You can earn credits towards your Member Deposit loan or your bill by volunteering for Greater Forest Lawn Community Carsharing.

For general volunteering like driving a carsharing vehicle on behalf of the project or attending community events to promote carsharing you can earn credits at a rate of $12 per hour.

For other volunteer tasks, you can earn the following credits:
• Taking a carsharing vehicle to the carwash: $15
• Cleaning the inside of a carsharing vehicle (vacuuming floors and seats, wiping dash and other surfaces, cleaning windows): $25
• Referring a new member: $100

Credits earned will be applied to outstanding balances in the following order:
1) Unpaid fines or traffic tickets
2) Member deposit loan
3) Carsharing account balance

Benefits of Carsharing

Affordable, reliable transportation

Many people join carsharing because it is an affordable alternative to owning a car. The cost of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle can be very high. New cars are very expensive and used cars, while cheaper, can be costly to maintain. Here is how the cost of owning a car compares to carsharing:

Reduced environmental impact
Anyone who watches the news on TV these days knows about the effect that cars are having on the environment: global climate change and air pollution from vehicle emissions, as well as damage to land and rivers caused by the endless search for gas and oil. But, did you know that Calgary has one of the worst “environmental footprints” of any city in North America? This means that we pollute more and use more resources than other cities of similar size and population. Part of the reason for this is the high rate of vehicle use among Calgarians. Carsharing can help us reduce our impact on the environment. It’s a simple matter of math: if 10 people share one vehicle, it takes nine cars off the road.

Traffic congestion
If you’ve ever tried to drive downtown during rush hour, you’ve probably wished there weren’t so many cars on the road! With the growth of Calgary’s population, the increase in vehicles on city streets has increased to the point where traffic congestion is a really big problem in Calgary. Carsharing helps address this in the same way it helps with the environment: less private car ownership means fewer cars on the road – and more parking spaces for everyone!

Shared community resources
Carsharing is a resource that the community can share. Not only do members share access to an affordable vehicle, they share the responsibility of caring for that vehicle, which in turns increases their sense of caring for their community. Beyond member benefits, the community is helped when local organizations use carsharing to take groups to social and recreation activities. Through ridesharing, members have the option of providing rides to their neighbours and friends.

Healthier communities
Carsharing can benefit the whole community.