May 15, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Gail Payne, Senior Transportation Coordinator
510-747-6892
Starting this Thursday, May 17, up to 35 Gig Car Share vehicles will be launched on the main island of Alameda, ready to be used for one-way trips between the main island of Alameda, core East Bay communities, and two San Francisco locations. Please join us at a launch event this Wednesday, May 16, at 4 pm at the Main Street ferry terminal. Download the Gig Car Share app and register by May 20 and receive a $50 credit with the promo code ALAMEDA50.
On May 1, 2018, the Alameda City Council approved an agreement with Gig Car Share to have up to 50 Gig Car Share vehicles on the main island of Alameda. At this time, Gig Car Share is not currently launching on Bay Farm Island. Carsharing aims to reduce car ownership and provide greater transportation choices. Carsharing is not new to Alameda, as the island already has “dedicated space” carsharing at four locations with Getaround (formerly City CarShare), along with peer-to-peer carsharing, which allows Alamedans to rent their private vehicles to neighbors. This agreement represents a third type of carsharing called one-way or point-to-point, where members are able to rent available vehicles and end trips anywhere in designated areas. For Gig Car Share, designated areas include two parking lots in San Francisco, the city of Albany, and the core areas of Oakland and Berkeley, which includes seven BART stations – Fruitvale, West Oakland, Lake Merritt, North Berkeley, Ashby, Rockridge, and MacArthur.
Carsharing not only reduces driving costs for individuals and businesses, it increases access to vehicles, including for lower income individuals. Carsharing reduces vehicle purchases and vehicle miles traveled, with each vehicle removing 7-11 privately owned vehicles off the street. Today, 5.1% of Alameda households do not own a vehicle, which has more than doubled in the last ten years, demonstrating how more households in Alameda could benefit from a one-way carsharing program. Car share vehicles also tend to be less polluting and more fuel efficient than typical personal vehicles and have more safety features that help avoid or reduce the impact of collisions.
Carsharing is defined as a membership-based service, which allows all qualified, licensed drivers to make vehicle trips with the use of a rented vehicle without a separate written requirement for each trip. Gig Car Share has a team of fleet operators who clean and fuel the cars throughout the communities they serve. For more information, please download the Gig Car Share app or visit gigcarshare.com.
