Ellie Harvey
June 16, 2008
WITH petrol prices soaring and public transport
overcrowded and unreliable, an increasing number of people are sharing
the burden of owning a car.
Charter Drive, a car-sharing operator that enables one car to be
used by up to 10 people, is experiencing growth in membership as people
try to reduce expenses.
"There's definitely been a greater uptake in the last six weeks," Paul Reichman, the general manager, said.
"Enrolments have gone up already, but I'd think it would go up further in the next six weeks due to the [petrol] spike."
Charter Drive has 700 members, but expects to reach 5000 in the next
two years. "The reality is, in the short term there's more pain, but in
the medium term people [will] sell their cars and it's better for the
everyone."
Mr Reichman said customers would not see a lot of variation in the
price they paid, even if petrol reached $2 a litre, because price
variations were factored into the cost.
Flexicar's co-founder and chief executive, Monique Conheady, said
the business had received 92 applications in the past two weeks, and
expected the number of monthly applications to double this month.
Almost 700 people have joined this year.
Ms Conheady said that by "sharing the load", Flexicar could balance
the increasing costs of petrol with its growing membership, so that
price rises to members were minimal.
The City of Sydney council has begun a two-year trial of car-share
parking, said a spokeswoman, Leanne Lincoln. The council has provided
more than 100 on-street car spaces.
"Car-share schemes are especially suited to the heavily congested
residential precincts immediately surrounding the CBD, where there is a
very limited amount of on-street parking, yet a very high and growing
demand for parking," she said.
Christoph Doerfel is a Charter Drive member. He cycles as much as possible and said he needed a car only occasionally.
"You have to admit that if you only pay $3.30 an hour … it's a fantastic service," he said.