13 July 2016

GoGet, Popcar car-sharing trial for ACT

| Charlotte
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Car share announcement - Meegan Fitzharris

Two car-sharing companies, GoGet and Popcar, will provide Canberrans with access to small fleets of their vehicles as part of a two-year trial of the transport option.

Car sharing works by having a fleet of cars available to be booked at any time, day or night, with customers paying a fee determined by how far they drive and how long they hire the car.

Members of the program will be able to find cars near them and making bookings via mobile apps or online booking systems at www.goget.com.au or popcar.com.au.

The commitment to car sharing is part of the ACT Labor-Greens Parliamentary Agreement.

ACT Minister for Transport and Municipal Services Meegan Fitzharris said that by becoming a member of either service, Canberrans would be able to access a network of 22 cars parked in specially marked spaces around the ACT, including in Civic (ACT Magistrates Court car park and London Circuit/Constitution Avenue car park), Dickson (Challis Street), Russell and near the Treasury building in the Parliamentary Triangle.

“People can simply book for the hours they need, or for a full day,” Ms Fitzharris said.

“During the two-year trial membership to the service will be offered at an initially discounted rate, so I really encourage people to become a member and try it out.”

National Capital Authority chief executive Malcolm Snow endorsed the initiative and has contributed a number of car spaces on National Land for the short-term rental.

“The program has a number of environmental benefits for the ACT, as well as economic benefits for those who use it,” Mr Snow said.

“The car sharing program will use newer, more fuel-efficient cars, including hybrid vehicles. By encouraging sharing the same vehicle between a number of people, the program should encourage less car usage for individuals and fewer cars on the road. In turn this should mean less pollution and congestion on our roads.”

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Lurker2913 said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I, for one, refuse to shop in Canberra City anymore as parking is too difficult and too expensive to procure.

Ditto here.
Free parking in Woden or Queanbeyan, without the traffic. Why would I go to the City?

Ditto here too. If u want to look at whats killing Civic, it’s the Canberra Centre, the cost of paid parking there and the commercial rents that business have to pay which preclude variety and smaller retailers.

wildturkeycanoe7:13 am 05 May 16

rommeldog56 said :

Im not saying they dont. What im saying is the car dominated planning is what has placed us in the corner we are in now, a city that is terrible to get around on foot and caters only to experienced cyclists.

Would not the problem with getting around on foot be the lack of suitable/efficient connecting public transport services, the large expanses between city centers and the extreme climates of winter cold and summer heat? The landscape with its rolling hills doesn’t assist much either.
Cyclists certainly shouldn’t complain, there are paths all over this town joining suburb to suburb and now they legally get a whole lane’s worth of the roadway as their own as well. The only thing that would improve the cycling experience is to entirely stop cars driving on the roads, install walls and roofs to prevent them getting cold and wet.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I, for one, refuse to shop in Canberra City anymore as parking is too difficult and too expensive to procure.

Certainly, especially when you can get the exact same retailers at the next closest Westfield that has free parking. The problem there is Canberra Centre doesnt offer anything unique enough to make people want to be there, unless you need a trip to the Apple Store or shop high end retail, in which case you can probably afford the parking.

I buy my F & V at the local shops.

Alexandra Craig said :

I, for one, refuse to shop in Canberra City anymore as parking is too difficult and too expensive to procure.

Certainly, especially when you can get the exact same retailers at the next closest Westfield that has free parking. The problem there is Canberra Centre doesnt offer anything unique enough to make people want to be there, unless you need a trip to the Apple Store or shop high end retail, in which case you can probably afford the parking.

Alexandra Craig said :

I, for one, refuse to shop in Canberra City anymore as parking is too difficult and too expensive to procure.

Ditto here.
Free parking in Woden or Queanbeyan, without the traffic. Why would I go to the City?

rommeldog56 said :

gooterz said :

While you may say my comment about Canberra’s road planning compared to other gridlocked cities being successful is just opinion, I am sure if you ran a poll there would be overwhelming agreement that our roads handle traffic well.

Im not saying they dont. What im saying is the car dominated planning is what has placed us in the corner we are in now, a city that is terrible to get around on foot and caters only to experienced cyclists. Other jurisdictions have realised the folly in designing car-centric cities and are moving to slow traffic down to create safer environments for pedestrians and cyclists. In fact, there have been large economic benefit for retailers in areas where cars have been reduced or prohibited.

“In fact, there have been large economic benefit for retailers in areas where cars have been reduced or prohibited.”
They may be, but I think the dominant outcome is that retailers have suffered when nearby parking has been prohibited or reduces.
I, for one, refuse to shop in Canberra City anymore as parking is too difficult and too expensive to procure.

gooterz said :

While you may say my comment about Canberra’s road planning compared to other gridlocked cities being successful is just opinion, I am sure if you ran a poll there would be overwhelming agreement that our roads handle traffic well.

Im not saying they dont. What im saying is the car dominated planning is what has placed us in the corner we are in now, a city that is terrible to get around on foot and caters only to experienced cyclists. Other jurisdictions have realised the folly in designing car-centric cities and are moving to slow traffic down to create safer environments for pedestrians and cyclists. In fact, there have been large economic benefit for retailers in areas where cars have been reduced or prohibited.

Mysteryman said :

Acton said :

“……..people who would prefer not to own cars, but have an occasional need for them………”
I thought Uber had solved that problem. There have always been taxis as well.
BTW, I haven’t heard any “get rich quick” stories about those Uber besotted operators that were featured in the media a few months ago.

Uber and taxis are designed purely for point to point travel. Share cars are designed for those who require a flexible itinerary, each have their market.

There is not point in arguing against this service, we are shifting ever more to a share economy and that is the future.

On your comment on Canberra being planned for cars, you will find that every city that was planned during the 50s and 60s was designed for cars and you will find they all successfully cater to them. What sets Canberra apart is that our roads are designed for higher volumes and higher speeds than what is currently needed. That is due to an overly risk adverse government who cater for those idiotic minorities who want to travel at 70 or 80 in a 50km zone. Living in Belconnen area, I am flabbergasted at the width of our road reserves, you can fit 4 lanes where there are 2 in some places. This is to the detriment of the pedestrian experience and is a reason we have an increasing obesity issue. We should be reducing road widths, widening pedestrian footpaths and slowing down traffic to improve pedestrian and cycle access in our suburbs. To call Canberra’s road planning a success is purely a matter of opinion.

You were doing well until you started on about obese pedestrians and the need for even more money for cyclists.
While you may say my comment about Canberra’s road planning compared to other gridlocked cities being successful is just opinion, I am sure if you ran a poll there would be overwhelming agreement that our roads handle traffic well.

Acton said :

“……..people who would prefer not to own cars, but have an occasional need for them………”
I thought Uber had solved that problem. There have always been taxis as well.
BTW, I haven’t heard any “get rich quick” stories about those Uber besotted operators that were featured in the media a few months ago.

Uber and taxis are designed purely for point to point travel. Share cars are designed for those who require a flexible itinerary, each have their market.

There is not point in arguing against this service, we are shifting ever more to a share economy and that is the future.

On your comment on Canberra being planned for cars, you will find that every city that was planned during the 50s and 60s was designed for cars and you will find they all successfully cater to them. What sets Canberra apart is that our roads are designed for higher volumes and higher speeds than what is currently needed. That is due to an overly risk adverse government who cater for those idiotic minorities who want to travel at 70 or 80 in a 50km zone. Living in Belconnen area, I am flabbergasted at the width of our road reserves, you can fit 4 lanes where there are 2 in some places. This is to the detriment of the pedestrian experience and is a reason we have an increasing obesity issue. We should be reducing road widths, widening pedestrian footpaths and slowing down traffic to improve pedestrian and cycle access in our suburbs. To call Canberra’s road planning a success is purely a matter of opinion.

Peter Smith said :

These car sharing services are targeted at people who have good access to public transport already, hence the City locations of their hire vehicles. That means the 20 cars these people own are parked in private underground car parks and the owners already use public transport. They aren’t involved in the traffic congestion because they aren’t traveling into the city every morning or out every afternoon.

Uh-huh – so the pop-car market consists exclusively of people whose cars are parked in underground carparks, don’t drive their cars, and who use public transport and don’t use pop-cars, which themselves are exclusively parked above-ground.
That’s some clever analysis…

Peter Smith said :

Those 20 car spaces are in underground car parks, so it isn’t freeing up any spaces for the rest of Canberra. It is a simple concept, why do you not get it?

I have no idea where you get your underground carparks maths assumption from.

I’ll just leave you with this simple concept image, Wildturkey:
http://tinyurl.com/jnospsa
Notice two important things about this picture:
1 – The picture shows a bunch of car-share vehicles from a company called “Go-Get”
2 – the Go-Get cars are parked in an underground carpark

The question is – do *you* get it?

Lol. And I mean that literally.

Peter Smith said :

rommeldog56 said :

Good grief, this is some seriously muddled thinking.

Model A: 20 people have cars.
– 20 car parks are used, wherever these cars are at any given time.
– road congestion is added to by 20 cars X their average time spent driving on the road.

These car sharing services are targeted at people who have good access to public transport already, hence the City locations of their hire vehicles. That means the 20 cars these people own are parked in private underground car parks and the owners already use public transport. They aren’t involved in the traffic congestion because they aren’t traveling into the city every morning or out every afternoon.

Those 20 car spaces are in underground car parks, so it isn’t freeing up any spaces for the rest of Canberra. It is a simple concept, why do you not get it?
Those 4 Pop-cars take up their allocated parking space even when the vehicles are being used elsewhere, so effectively the rest of Canberra is losing those 4 spaces permanently, plus the 4 spaces the cars take up in the destination. 4 plus 4 = 8. Basic maths!

People in other cities are fearful of this change for valid, logical reasons.See this article – http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/car-share-schemes-booming-but-ruffle-a-few-feathers-20141127-11vgtt.html Those car sharing services have taken up 600 parking spaces in the Sydney region, to the dismay of residents who have lost their on-street parking spaces. It isn’t all good news, even the reviews from customers aren’t exactly glowing. Issues such as having a credit card hold of $500 placed for two weeks after the rental, having no vehicle available when needed and poor customer service has left many to go back to owning their own vehicle.

Yes, this proves it is perfect for Canberra. It’s another A Better Place moment.
Strange how Fairfax Media didn’t publish this story in the Canberra Times.
Perhaps Charlotte Harper could investigate that.

Lurker2913 said :

I can’t believe what I’m reading in this thread!

Car share is one of the 21st century’s greatest innovations – and it is PERFECT in a city like Canberra.

GoGet is for people who would prefer not to own cars, but have an occassional need for them. For example there are 1000s living in the inner-north, city and the ANU campus, who walk to work /uni but:
-Want to do a big shopping trip at Ikea/DFO on the weekend
-Go on a late night maccas/Kmart run
-Need to take kids to sport at far flung suburban fields
-Want to go down to Namadgi, Tidbinbilla or even Kambah pools for a few hours

Currently, many of these people do own cars – and only drive them 1-3 times/week. Or, they feel like they ‘have’ to use their car to make it worthwhile, so unecessarily drive to work/uni when they live so close anyway.

Personally I sold my car when I moved next to a GoGet pod, and now no longer take up a spot on my street.

And to those who say you can “just hire a car” – the traditional process for hiring a car is 20 minutes (I can be in a GoGet in 20 seconds), you have to return it with a full tank, the insurance is extortionate and there’s generally a 1 day minimum (GoGet is 30mins). And the major car rental places aren’t even open after 12pm Saturday/any time Sunday – let alone at 3am when I want a car to drive my mates home.

“……..people who would prefer not to own cars, but have an occasional need for them………”
I thought Uber had solved that problem. There have always been taxis as well.
BTW, I haven’t heard any “get rich quick” stories about those Uber besotted operators that were featured in the media a few months ago.

wildturkeycanoe8:01 am 02 May 16

rommeldog56 said :

Good grief, this is some seriously muddled thinking.

Model A: 20 people have cars.
– 20 car parks are used, wherever these cars are at any given time.
– road congestion is added to by 20 cars X their average time spent driving on the road.

These car sharing services are targeted at people who have good access to public transport already, hence the City locations of their hire vehicles. That means the 20 cars these people own are parked in private underground car parks and the owners already use public transport. They aren’t involved in the traffic congestion because they aren’t traveling into the city every morning or out every afternoon.

Those 20 car spaces are in underground car parks, so it isn’t freeing up any spaces for the rest of Canberra. It is a simple concept, why do you not get it?
Those 4 Pop-cars take up their allocated parking space even when the vehicles are being used elsewhere, so effectively the rest of Canberra is losing those 4 spaces permanently, plus the 4 spaces the cars take up in the destination. 4 plus 4 = 8. Basic maths!

People in other cities are fearful of this change for valid, logical reasons.See this article – http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/car-share-schemes-booming-but-ruffle-a-few-feathers-20141127-11vgtt.html Those car sharing services have taken up 600 parking spaces in the Sydney region, to the dismay of residents who have lost their on-street parking spaces. It isn’t all good news, even the reviews from customers aren’t exactly glowing. Issues such as having a credit card hold of $500 placed for two weeks after the rental, having no vehicle available when needed and poor customer service has left many to go back to owning their own vehicle.

braddonmonsta8:33 am 01 May 16

I can’t believe what I’m reading in this thread!

Car share is one of the 21st century’s greatest innovations – and it is PERFECT in a city like Canberra.

GoGet is for people who would prefer not to own cars, but have an occassional need for them. For example there are 1000s living in the inner-north, city and the ANU campus, who walk to work /uni but:
-Want to do a big shopping trip at Ikea/DFO on the weekend
-Go on a late night maccas/Kmart run
-Need to take kids to sport at far flung suburban fields
-Want to go down to Namadgi, Tidbinbilla or even Kambah pools for a few hours

Currently, many of these people do own cars – and only drive them 1-3 times/week. Or, they feel like they ‘have’ to use their car to make it worthwhile, so unecessarily drive to work/uni when they live so close anyway.

Personally I sold my car when I moved next to a GoGet pod, and now no longer take up a spot on my street.

And to those who say you can “just hire a car” – the traditional process for hiring a car is 20 minutes (I can be in a GoGet in 20 seconds), you have to return it with a full tank, the insurance is extortionate and there’s generally a 1 day minimum (GoGet is 30mins). And the major car rental places aren’t even open after 12pm Saturday/any time Sunday – let alone at 3am when I want a car to drive my mates home.

madelini said :

dungfungus said :

dungfungus said :

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra.

Yes, because it works elsewhere it’ll work in Canberra? So why don’t we have heavy rail or a subway network, a ferry service, an international airport accessing the world, tollways, 100 storey buildings, maybe some manufacturing or mining industries, a huge stadium capable of seating fifty thousand spectators, a permanent amusement park like perhaps a Wet’n’Wild or Movieworld?
I just do not get why we have to have things in Canberra simply because they “work” in other places. We are not like any other major city in Australia, for one because there is no ocean, two we have no real industrial sector or natural resource in the state to keep the economy and government coffers prosperous and three, our population is tiny in comparison.
Like you said “experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking”. The same won’t necessarily work in this little town.

Yeah, why do we have freeways “in this little town”? It’s not like we are L.A. or Sydney or Melbourne.

…and not like freeways ever work anywhere else.

Was just watching the commercial news last night and the the big topic was massive congestion and accidents in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

But not in Canberra where planning for the private motor vehicle as the primary form of transport has been a resounding success which you choose to deny.

dungfungus said :

dungfungus said :

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra.

Yes, because it works elsewhere it’ll work in Canberra? So why don’t we have heavy rail or a subway network, a ferry service, an international airport accessing the world, tollways, 100 storey buildings, maybe some manufacturing or mining industries, a huge stadium capable of seating fifty thousand spectators, a permanent amusement park like perhaps a Wet’n’Wild or Movieworld?
I just do not get why we have to have things in Canberra simply because they “work” in other places. We are not like any other major city in Australia, for one because there is no ocean, two we have no real industrial sector or natural resource in the state to keep the economy and government coffers prosperous and three, our population is tiny in comparison.
Like you said “experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking”. The same won’t necessarily work in this little town.

You forgot to nominate the Eiffel Tower.

dungfungus said :

dungfungus said :

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra.

Yes, because it works elsewhere it’ll work in Canberra? So why don’t we have heavy rail or a subway network, a ferry service, an international airport accessing the world, tollways, 100 storey buildings, maybe some manufacturing or mining industries, a huge stadium capable of seating fifty thousand spectators, a permanent amusement park like perhaps a Wet’n’Wild or Movieworld?
I just do not get why we have to have things in Canberra simply because they “work” in other places. We are not like any other major city in Australia, for one because there is no ocean, two we have no real industrial sector or natural resource in the state to keep the economy and government coffers prosperous and three, our population is tiny in comparison.
Like you said “experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking”. The same won’t necessarily work in this little town.

Yeah, why do we have freeways “in this little town”? It’s not like we are L.A. or Sydney or Melbourne.

…and not like freeways ever work anywhere else.

Was just watching the commercial news last night and the the big topic was massive congestion and accidents in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Shart said :

As I just explained, one Pop-car takes up it’s designated space in public parking whether it is there or not, plus occupies the space where it is taken to. A private car space remains unavailable at the owner’s premises whether they have a car or not. This is why these Go-get services will inevitably take up more public parking spaces whilst the number of private car parks remains the same. As demand increases, more public parking is going to be surrendered to the new hire car companies. It helps the people in Civic, but makes things worse for those coming from the suburbs.
You not deciding to buy a car means you probably have easy access to public transport. That also means you probably don’t drive to work already, so the choice to not own a car does nothing for public parking, nor does it free up a spot for anybody else. The Go-get car you will choose to use occasionally will occupy a spot where there used to be visitor parking. It doesn’t free up anything but actually uses more of the presently available parking spots.
If you don’t believe me, look at the map available on Go-get’s website and see where their cars are parked. They are in public car parks, taking up space that you or I could be using for our trip into Canberra’s central district.

Good grief, this is some seriously muddled thinking.

Model A: 20 people have cars.
– 20 car parks are used, wherever these cars are at any given time.
– road congestion is added to by 20 cars X their average time spent driving on the road.

Model B: 20 people give up cars
– 20 car parks are now free, all the time, that were otherwise used
– 4 pop-cars are provided, using up 4 car-parks, wherever these cars are at any give time
– people are less likely to make car trips, and more likely to share or pool on the trips they make, so road congestion is greatly reduced.

It’s not exactly rocket science, but I think I understand why some people are particularly fearful of change or new things, having seen your convoluted and unsuccessful attempt to understand how this new thing will work.

wildturkeycanoe6:51 pm 29 Apr 16

dungfungus said :

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra.

Yes, because it works elsewhere it’ll work in Canberra? So why don’t we have heavy rail or a subway network, a ferry service, an international airport accessing the world, tollways, 100 storey buildings, maybe some manufacturing or mining industries, a huge stadium capable of seating fifty thousand spectators, a permanent amusement park like perhaps a Wet’n’Wild or Movieworld?
I just do not get why we have to have things in Canberra simply because they “work” in other places. We are not like any other major city in Australia, for one because there is no ocean, two we have no real industrial sector or natural resource in the state to keep the economy and government coffers prosperous and three, our population is tiny in comparison.
Like you said “experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking”. The same won’t necessarily work in this little town.

dungfungus said :

gooterz said :

Shart said :

Let’s say for a minute that this thing takes off and Civic dwellers adopt the new way of travel. Go-get finds its cars are constantly on the streets and they need more to satisfy demand. They buy more cars for the fleet and park them where? On the kerb or in street parking? In the underground private parking spaces of apartments? If the former, parking spots are taken away from anybody wanting to visit their mates in Tramville and soon there are even less parking spaces left for anybody wanting to drive to the city for shopping or business. If the latter, those cars are only accessible to tenants of the building, which wouldn’t suit the purpose of the business venture. As the fleet gets larger, they will inevitably take up parking spaces, either in the public car parks or the on street parking zones adjacent residential areas. You couldn’t say that a handful of these cars is going to be a great business plan, they have to be looking at up-scaling to make it more profitable. Always, these cars are going to be located nearest to high density housing and community centers, never in the middle of a suburban fringe-dwelling habitat.

Mordd said :

It’s true that the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

So if it helps the city dwellers it’s a great idea, screw the rest of Canberra! Just like the tram…

dungfungus said :

If several people avail themselves of the car a day, that is several cars not on the road or not occupying parking spaces.

It would make little difference if thousands of people sold their cars tomorrow, because the ones who use this new service would be the ones who already use public transport to get to work and back. The parking spaces freed up would be their own spot in the basement of a building, not the one in London Circuit, because they can get there by bus already. The ones who fill up the car parks, the ones who cause the congestion, are not the city dwellers but the people from Woden, Belconnen Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. Go-get will not change these people’s travel habits, but will take up more parking in their destination. The more Go-get and Pop-cars in Civic, sitting idle whilst they wait for an occasional user to walk by, the more parking spaces taken up. Then when they are hired, the space remains vacant but not available to anybody else except the renter of the vehicle. At least when a suburbanite goes home, the parking space can be used by anybody else.

rubaiyat said :

I don’t know whether to call this a big fat maths fail or something else.
If I decide to not buy a car, that frees up a parking space.
One Popcar serves the needs of multiple people who have done away with a car of their own.
For every 1 extra Popcar you see, that is 1xX extra parking spaces that have been freed up, where X represents the number of cars that are given up per Popcar that is in circulation.

As I just explained, one Pop-car takes up it’s designated space in public parking whether it is there or not, plus occupies the space where it is taken to. A private car space remains unavailable at the owner’s premises whether they have a car or not. This is why these Go-get services will inevitably take up more public parking spaces whilst the number of private car parks remains the same. As demand increases, more public parking is going to be surrendered to the new hire car companies. It helps the people in Civic, but makes things worse for those coming from the suburbs.
You not deciding to buy a car means you probably have easy access to public transport. That also means you probably don’t drive to work already, so the choice to not own a car does nothing for public parking, nor does it free up a spot for anybody else. The Go-get car you will choose to use occasionally will occupy a spot where there used to be visitor parking. It doesn’t free up anything but actually uses more of the presently available parking spots.
If you don’t believe me, look at the map available on Go-get’s website and see where their cars are parked. They are in public car parks, taking up space that you or I could be using for our trip into Canberra’s central district.

But they are the edgy thing that fits with the image of the coolest little capital in the world; like the Westside Containers Terminal (or should that read the Terminal Westside Containers).

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra. But don’t let the facts get in the way or your elegant argument by any means.

The “facts” are the missing details because there must be substantial concessions being given by our government to make it profitable for the operators.
It’s the same as this farce about 100% renewable electricity by 2020. There is a significant surcharge for us all to pay for a few to feel good and we have no choice to “opt out”.
Most Canberrans have to have a car (and there is nothing wrong with that as Canberra was designed for cars) will pay the cost of these follies for the benefit of a few.
Perhaps you could enlighten us as to why this “brand new start-up” is good for us.

gooterz said :

Shart said :

Let’s say for a minute that this thing takes off and Civic dwellers adopt the new way of travel. Go-get finds its cars are constantly on the streets and they need more to satisfy demand. They buy more cars for the fleet and park them where? On the kerb or in street parking? In the underground private parking spaces of apartments? If the former, parking spots are taken away from anybody wanting to visit their mates in Tramville and soon there are even less parking spaces left for anybody wanting to drive to the city for shopping or business. If the latter, those cars are only accessible to tenants of the building, which wouldn’t suit the purpose of the business venture. As the fleet gets larger, they will inevitably take up parking spaces, either in the public car parks or the on street parking zones adjacent residential areas. You couldn’t say that a handful of these cars is going to be a great business plan, they have to be looking at up-scaling to make it more profitable. Always, these cars are going to be located nearest to high density housing and community centers, never in the middle of a suburban fringe-dwelling habitat.

Mordd said :

It’s true that the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

So if it helps the city dwellers it’s a great idea, screw the rest of Canberra! Just like the tram…

dungfungus said :

If several people avail themselves of the car a day, that is several cars not on the road or not occupying parking spaces.

It would make little difference if thousands of people sold their cars tomorrow, because the ones who use this new service would be the ones who already use public transport to get to work and back. The parking spaces freed up would be their own spot in the basement of a building, not the one in London Circuit, because they can get there by bus already. The ones who fill up the car parks, the ones who cause the congestion, are not the city dwellers but the people from Woden, Belconnen Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. Go-get will not change these people’s travel habits, but will take up more parking in their destination. The more Go-get and Pop-cars in Civic, sitting idle whilst they wait for an occasional user to walk by, the more parking spaces taken up. Then when they are hired, the space remains vacant but not available to anybody else except the renter of the vehicle. At least when a suburbanite goes home, the parking space can be used by anybody else.

rubaiyat said :

I don’t know whether to call this a big fat maths fail or something else.
If I decide to not buy a car, that frees up a parking space.
One Popcar serves the needs of multiple people who have done away with a car of their own.
For every 1 extra Popcar you see, that is 1xX extra parking spaces that have been freed up, where X represents the number of cars that are given up per Popcar that is in circulation.

As I just explained, one Pop-car takes up it’s designated space in public parking whether it is there or not, plus occupies the space where it is taken to. A private car space remains unavailable at the owner’s premises whether they have a car or not. This is why these Go-get services will inevitably take up more public parking spaces whilst the number of private car parks remains the same. As demand increases, more public parking is going to be surrendered to the new hire car companies. It helps the people in Civic, but makes things worse for those coming from the suburbs.
You not deciding to buy a car means you probably have easy access to public transport. That also means you probably don’t drive to work already, so the choice to not own a car does nothing for public parking, nor does it free up a spot for anybody else. The Go-get car you will choose to use occasionally will occupy a spot where there used to be visitor parking. It doesn’t free up anything but actually uses more of the presently available parking spots.
If you don’t believe me, look at the map available on Go-get’s website and see where their cars are parked. They are in public car parks, taking up space that you or I could be using for our trip into Canberra’s central district.

But they are the edgy thing that fits with the image of the coolest little capital in the world; like the Westside Containers Terminal (or should that read the Terminal Westside Containers).

Please, experience in other much bigger cities with far worse parking problems than Canberra has already shown that these systems work and reduce car ownership to boot. They wouldn’t be opening up here if they hadn’t already proved this works in MANY other places around the world first. It’s not like this is a brand new startup that only exists in Canberra.

Shart said :

Let’s say for a minute that this thing takes off and Civic dwellers adopt the new way of travel. Go-get finds its cars are constantly on the streets and they need more to satisfy demand. They buy more cars for the fleet and park them where? On the kerb or in street parking? In the underground private parking spaces of apartments? If the former, parking spots are taken away from anybody wanting to visit their mates in Tramville and soon there are even less parking spaces left for anybody wanting to drive to the city for shopping or business. If the latter, those cars are only accessible to tenants of the building, which wouldn’t suit the purpose of the business venture. As the fleet gets larger, they will inevitably take up parking spaces, either in the public car parks or the on street parking zones adjacent residential areas. You couldn’t say that a handful of these cars is going to be a great business plan, they have to be looking at up-scaling to make it more profitable. Always, these cars are going to be located nearest to high density housing and community centers, never in the middle of a suburban fringe-dwelling habitat.

Mordd said :

It’s true that the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

So if it helps the city dwellers it’s a great idea, screw the rest of Canberra! Just like the tram…

dungfungus said :

If several people avail themselves of the car a day, that is several cars not on the road or not occupying parking spaces.

It would make little difference if thousands of people sold their cars tomorrow, because the ones who use this new service would be the ones who already use public transport to get to work and back. The parking spaces freed up would be their own spot in the basement of a building, not the one in London Circuit, because they can get there by bus already. The ones who fill up the car parks, the ones who cause the congestion, are not the city dwellers but the people from Woden, Belconnen Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. Go-get will not change these people’s travel habits, but will take up more parking in their destination. The more Go-get and Pop-cars in Civic, sitting idle whilst they wait for an occasional user to walk by, the more parking spaces taken up. Then when they are hired, the space remains vacant but not available to anybody else except the renter of the vehicle. At least when a suburbanite goes home, the parking space can be used by anybody else.

rubaiyat said :

I don’t know whether to call this a big fat maths fail or something else.
If I decide to not buy a car, that frees up a parking space.
One Popcar serves the needs of multiple people who have done away with a car of their own.
For every 1 extra Popcar you see, that is 1xX extra parking spaces that have been freed up, where X represents the number of cars that are given up per Popcar that is in circulation.

As I just explained, one Pop-car takes up it’s designated space in public parking whether it is there or not, plus occupies the space where it is taken to. A private car space remains unavailable at the owner’s premises whether they have a car or not. This is why these Go-get services will inevitably take up more public parking spaces whilst the number of private car parks remains the same. As demand increases, more public parking is going to be surrendered to the new hire car companies. It helps the people in Civic, but makes things worse for those coming from the suburbs.
You not deciding to buy a car means you probably have easy access to public transport. That also means you probably don’t drive to work already, so the choice to not own a car does nothing for public parking, nor does it free up a spot for anybody else. The Go-get car you will choose to use occasionally will occupy a spot where there used to be visitor parking. It doesn’t free up anything but actually uses more of the presently available parking spots.
If you don’t believe me, look at the map available on Go-get’s website and see where their cars are parked. They are in public car parks, taking up space that you or I could be using for our trip into Canberra’s central district.

But they are the edgy thing that fits with the image of the coolest little capital in the world; like the Westside Containers Terminal (or should that read the Terminal Westside Containers).

Mordd said :

Mordd said :

Citizen Phil said :

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

While you only believe in rational thinking; I practice it which is pretty close to opposite.
Lets agree to disagree, OK?

That’s the thing with science, we need to see evidence of that before it becomes believable.

“We prefer to believe what we prefer to be true”
Francis Bacon

Mysteryman said :

Believes in the benefits of modern technology, yet somehow thinks making people wait at a station, then stand crammed together in a box running off overhead wires and limited to a single narrow track of steel with total cost approach a billion dollars is a good solution to transport. Riiiight!

Beats believing in sitting on your rapidly broadening backside, in a 2 tonne metal box on your own in congestion, for long commutes, causing many fatalities, much more serious injuries, and a heck of a lot of pollution, whilst spending $5 billion A YEAR (not $698 million over 20 years) whilst lying to yourself over the monetary cost, damage to your health and the damage to your city is a good solution to anything. Riiiiight!

Mysteryman said :

Citizen Phil said :

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

Believes in the benefits of modern technology, yet somehow thinks making people wait at a station, then stand crammed together in a box running off overhead wires and limited to a single narrow track of steel with total cost approach a billion dollars is a good solution to transport. Riiiight!

I have never said trams are “modern technology”. In fact, I have regularly referred to them as 100 year old technology. They are only suitable in certain situations and Canberra does not have a claim to any of them
When are you going to finally see that Canberrans want to use cars despite all the evil things they represent (according to you).

Mordd said :

Citizen Phil said :

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

While you only believe in rational thinking; I practice it which is pretty close to opposite.
Lets agree to disagree, OK?

That’s the thing with science, we need to see evidence of that before it becomes believable.

wildturkeycanoe7:09 am 24 Apr 16

Let’s say for a minute that this thing takes off and Civic dwellers adopt the new way of travel. Go-get finds its cars are constantly on the streets and they need more to satisfy demand. They buy more cars for the fleet and park them where? On the kerb or in street parking? In the underground private parking spaces of apartments? If the former, parking spots are taken away from anybody wanting to visit their mates in Tramville and soon there are even less parking spaces left for anybody wanting to drive to the city for shopping or business. If the latter, those cars are only accessible to tenants of the building, which wouldn’t suit the purpose of the business venture. As the fleet gets larger, they will inevitably take up parking spaces, either in the public car parks or the on street parking zones adjacent residential areas. You couldn’t say that a handful of these cars is going to be a great business plan, they have to be looking at up-scaling to make it more profitable. Always, these cars are going to be located nearest to high density housing and community centers, never in the middle of a suburban fringe-dwelling habitat.

Mordd said :

It’s true that the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

So if it helps the city dwellers it’s a great idea, screw the rest of Canberra! Just like the tram…

dungfungus said :

If several people avail themselves of the car a day, that is several cars not on the road or not occupying parking spaces.

It would make little difference if thousands of people sold their cars tomorrow, because the ones who use this new service would be the ones who already use public transport to get to work and back. The parking spaces freed up would be their own spot in the basement of a building, not the one in London Circuit, because they can get there by bus already. The ones who fill up the car parks, the ones who cause the congestion, are not the city dwellers but the people from Woden, Belconnen Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. Go-get will not change these people’s travel habits, but will take up more parking in their destination. The more Go-get and Pop-cars in Civic, sitting idle whilst they wait for an occasional user to walk by, the more parking spaces taken up. Then when they are hired, the space remains vacant but not available to anybody else except the renter of the vehicle. At least when a suburbanite goes home, the parking space can be used by anybody else.

rubaiyat said :

I don’t know whether to call this a big fat maths fail or something else.
If I decide to not buy a car, that frees up a parking space.
One Popcar serves the needs of multiple people who have done away with a car of their own.
For every 1 extra Popcar you see, that is 1xX extra parking spaces that have been freed up, where X represents the number of cars that are given up per Popcar that is in circulation.

As I just explained, one Pop-car takes up it’s designated space in public parking whether it is there or not, plus occupies the space where it is taken to. A private car space remains unavailable at the owner’s premises whether they have a car or not. This is why these Go-get services will inevitably take up more public parking spaces whilst the number of private car parks remains the same. As demand increases, more public parking is going to be surrendered to the new hire car companies. It helps the people in Civic, but makes things worse for those coming from the suburbs.
You not deciding to buy a car means you probably have easy access to public transport. That also means you probably don’t drive to work already, so the choice to not own a car does nothing for public parking, nor does it free up a spot for anybody else. The Go-get car you will choose to use occasionally will occupy a spot where there used to be visitor parking. It doesn’t free up anything but actually uses more of the presently available parking spots.
If you don’t believe me, look at the map available on Go-get’s website and see where their cars are parked. They are in public car parks, taking up space that you or I could be using for our trip into Canberra’s central district.

OpenYourMind5:43 pm 23 Apr 16

Citizen Phil said :

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

Believes in the benefits of modern technology, yet somehow thinks making people wait at a station, then stand crammed together in a box running off overhead wires and limited to a single narrow track of steel with total cost approach a billion dollars is a good solution to transport. Riiiight!

Citizen Phil said :

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

While you only believe in rational thinking; I practice it which is pretty close to opposite.
Lets agree to disagree, OK?

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

Your 20th-century fossil-fuel dream is rapidly receding into the past and getting closer and closer to the middle ages with each day that passes.

The 21st Century is here. Stuff is changing. Wind power is cheaper than coal according to the IEA, which is why the coal industry is dying despite the massive government subsidies it gets. Coal being abandoned as an energy source can’t happen too quickly, in my book.
And the expansion of the wind power sector is going to help people question and reject the current monopolistic corporate models that have been foisted on our essential services.
Distributed systems are here, big time, and collective services – much as the far-right-wingers hate them – are the future.

justin heywood1:00 pm 23 Apr 16

Mordd said :

…I’m swapping around $12k/yr ($5k depreciation, $2k insurance amp; reg, $2k maintenance, $3k permanent parking, and probably more I’ve forgotten about) for an estimated GoGet annual cost of around $2k. So around $10k saving.

Sounds good. I’d really be interested in seeing another post on this in, say 6 months to see how this all works out in practice.

Mordd said :

…. the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

That’s true. The perfect solution is usually the enemy of the good solution.

rommeldog56 said :

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

The opposite. It is you who appear to want to live in the Middle Ages.

You appear to be pre-Enlightenment, believing what you want to believe just because you like/don’t like it. Scientists who actually measure, and assess the results of their measurement and have that checked by other scientists and checked again and again are all fraudsters because You, Don’t, Like, What, They, Say.

If someone says anything that contradicts what you JUST believe because: well everyone KNOWS it’s true, you enter witch burning mode.

I believe in and use modern high technology such as renewable technology, computers and other innovations of modern science. I believe in the powers of rational thinking and that most arguments can be broken down to analysable and testable elements to determine their reality or not.

As I said, the opposite.

Postalgeek said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

I don’t apologise for anything that benefits the modern world.
Sounds like you would prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

As a curiosity do you ever think about the humungous costs, not these insignificant amounts, that all the pollution, congestion and financial malpractices that you apologise for, actually cost everybody?

SunRider said :

Do the car sharing companies have to pay for these parking spots? Taxi owners have to pay for the taxi ranks.

How do they pay for taxi ranks? and don’t say with taxi licences because that is a separate issue of restricted business permits.

As a separate issue GoGet and Popcar should pay a commercial rate for the spaces they use for their business but it has not been established as to what exact agreements have been made.

There is a Rideshare vehicle registration applied in the ACT so it may be similar.

You pay extra for Business vehicle registration that allows you to use Loading Zones. That also would be a relevant precedence.

devils_advocate said :

Leo61 said :

I use GoGet in Sydney because I hate driving back and forth. It’s a fantastic service. And it’s not the same as standard hire cars because, after registering, you just book online in seconds, walk up to the car, get in and use it.

And there will now be one less personal car using up city car parks because I’m finally going to sell my own car – and just stick to GoGet in both Sydney and Canberra.

Anyone with elementary maths can work out that they will save a mozza. Cars are hugely expensive for the tiny bit of use they get. People avoid the real costs and make out it is just the petrol.

“Cars are hugely expensive for the tiny bit of use they get.”
Yes, buses and trams are a real bargain by comparison.

devils_advocate said :

Leo61 said :

I use GoGet in Sydney because I hate driving back and forth. It’s a fantastic service. And it’s not the same as standard hire cars because, after registering, you just book online in seconds, walk up to the car, get in and use it.

And there will now be one less personal car using up city car parks because I’m finally going to sell my own car – and just stick to GoGet in both Sydney and Canberra.

Anyone with elementary maths can work out that they will save a mozza. Cars are hugely expensive for the tiny bit of use they get. People avoid the real costs and make out it is just the petrol.

Yes – in may case I’m swapping around $12k/yr ($5k depreciation, $2k insurance & reg, $2k maintenance, $3k permanent parking, and probably more I’ve forgotten about) for an estimated GoGet annual cost of around $2k. So around $10k saving. It’s true that the service only really works if you live in the city near a pod. If you live out in the suburbs it’s not really practical. But so what? A service doesn’t have to please everyone to be useful and viable.

I am a Rabbit™ said :

Holden Caulfield said :

rubaiyat said :

It’s interesting to see the reaction of people who fear change – they refuse to accept renewable energy, climate science, and anything like this which upsets their static outlook on the way the world is. Fascinating.

If you don’t understand, you fear.

I think you mean “fear of the unknown”. To say people are fearful because they don’t understand something is simply ridiculous.

What are you on about? I am absolutely terrified of Trigonometry.

SunRider said :

Do the car sharing companies have to pay for these parking spots? Taxi owners have to pay for the taxi ranks.

Our visionary government is probably giving them free parking and paying them as well.
Hopefully, a Liberal MLA will ask them for more details.

Leo61 said :

I use GoGet in Sydney because I hate driving back and forth. It’s a fantastic service. And it’s not the same as standard hire cars because, after registering, you just book online in seconds, walk up to the car, get in and use it.

And there will now be one less personal car using up city car parks because I’m finally going to sell my own car – and just stick to GoGet in both Sydney and Canberra.

Anyone with elementary maths can work out that they will save a mozza. Cars are hugely expensive for the tiny bit of use they get. People avoid the real costs and make out it is just the petrol.

I am a Rabbit™ said :

Holden Caulfield said :

rubaiyat said :

It’s interesting to see the reaction of people who fear change – they refuse to accept renewable energy, climate science, and anything like this which upsets their static outlook on the way the world is. Fascinating.

If you don’t understand, you fear.

I think you mean “fear of the unknown”. To say people are fearful because they don’t understand something is simply ridiculous.

So you are afraid that you didn’t understand what I said? 😀

Do the car sharing companies have to pay for these parking spots? Taxi owners have to pay for the taxi ranks.

I use GoGet in Sydney because I hate driving back and forth. It’s a fantastic service. And it’s not the same as standard hire cars because, after registering, you just book online in seconds, walk up to the car, get in and use it.

And there will now be one less personal car using up city car parks because I’m finally going to sell my own car – and just stick to GoGet in both Sydney and Canberra.

Holden Caulfield said :

rubaiyat said :

It’s interesting to see the reaction of people who fear change – they refuse to accept renewable energy, climate science, and anything like this which upsets their static outlook on the way the world is. Fascinating.

If you don’t understand, you fear.

I think you mean “fear of the unknown”. To say people are fearful because they don’t understand something is simply ridiculous.

rubaiyat said :

It’s interesting to see the reaction of people who fear change – they refuse to accept renewable energy, climate science, and anything like this which upsets their static outlook on the way the world is. Fascinating.

If you don’t understand, you fear.

rubaiyat said :

Wouldn’t you just hate it that you can’t book a car because they are all taken, then think back to the days when you used to own your own car and could use it any time you liked?

I’ve lived without a car. When I felt like driving to the big smoke, I hired one for the day/weekend.
When I wanted to go to the beach for a week, I hired one for the week.
In-between times, I used public transport to get to and from work, the kids walked to school, and shopping required a taxi to bring the loot home.
Worked fine, and much cheaper and less hassles than owning a car.
It should catch on. Only, not in Canberra. You just can’t live in Canberra without a car.

Good luck to them though – this means fewer cars on the road and more parking for the rest of us.

rubaiyat said :

The statement of “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.” isn’t exactly true because the hire cars are still taking up parking somewhere all day, whether it is at their home base or out and about somewhere. Their designated parking spot is taken up all day and night even if the car isn’t there, so it is conceivable that the hire car is taking up two public car spots at the same time. The more we see of these vehicles, the less public parking space there will be for the rest of us.

I don’t know whether to call this a big fat maths fail or something else.

If I decide to not buy a car, that frees up a parking space.
One Popcar serves the needs of multiple people who have done away with a car of their own.
For every 1 extra Popcar you see, that is 1xX extra parking spaces that have been freed up, where X represents the number of cars that are given up per Popcar that is in circulation.

It’s interesting to see the reaction of people who fear change – they refuse to accept renewable energy, climate science, and anything like this which upsets their static outlook on the way the world is. Fascinating.

JC said :

rubaiyat said :

Great to see stuff like this finally happening in Canberra, now we just need them to expand the network to include Belconnen, Gunghalin, Woden and Tuggeranong and then we will have a real option available.

What is the real option over?

My point being that although autonomous cars will not save us (despite a number of people on hear thinking they are the solution to everything) – however a few good car sharing schemes can make a much bigger difference to a cities transport options and we can do it right now, not in 10-20 years time when the tech for autonomous cars finally comes good.

rubaiyat said :

The next phase would be google taking over Uber ! All cars would be driver less !

Uber is working on it already.

It was the obvious idea from the beginning. All the drivers who have gone out and invested in Uber and possibly given up their day jobs were only giving Uber their seed money.

You are getting a taste of what is to come. You pay an American corporation initially a little bit less than taxi fare to get about because you have either opposed or refused to use public transport, then when there are no other alternatives they jack up the price.

Meanwhile they have shuffled all your money offshore through tax havens so that Australia is in even more debt, whilst you and your children lose their jobs.

Same will happen next mining boom, if there ever is one. Why hire Aussie drivers to move our resources offshore? It will all be done remotely from the most exploitable 3rd world country that can be used for outsourcing.

Now back to my decades old idea of out sourcing our government. Sack both large parties and put the job up for contract. Singapore should pick it up, they did most of our trade after the Liberals signed that brilliant “Free Trade Agreement” with them.

Of course the Singaporeans will run Australia for their benefit, not ours, so effectively nothing will change.

rubaiyat said :

I see nothing different about this car sharing gimmick to simply hiring a car from a hire company. You will need to catch public transport to get to the car’s parked location [at least 99% of us will], you still have to drive through peak hour like everyone else, you still need to park it somewhere and pay for parking while you shop/work and you have to bring it back and park in the same spot if nobody else has taken the parking bay for themselves. If you become a regular user you may as well own your own car, it’ll be cheaper in the long run.
If there is a higher than usual demand for this service, you can be left with no car available to make your commute. About the only people who will benefit from this are those who don’t own vehicles and find public transport for some reason not useful, but if you need to book the car a few days in advance a taxi would do the same job just as effectively.

The statement of “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.” isn’t exactly true because the hire cars are still taking up parking somewhere all day, whether it is at their home base or out and about somewhere. Their designated parking spot is taken up all day and night even if the car isn’t there, so it is conceivable that the hire car is taking up two public car spots at the same time. The more we see of these vehicles, the less public parking space there will be for the rest of us. If the aim is to only have these vehicles at new high rise apartments with no parking for residents, the attraction to move into such a building will negated by the lack of suitable transport to get you from home to anywhere, unless there is a car for every residence out the front. Wouldn’t you just hate it that you can’t book a car because they are all taken, then think back to the days when you used to own your own car and could use it any time you liked?

If several people avail themselves of the car a day, that is several cars not on the road or not occupying parking spaces.

Your knee-jerk objection to anything except “Car – The One True Way. May peace be upon it!” makes you oppose anything that might actually benefit YOU as a driver.

rubaiyat said :

I see nothing different about this car sharing gimmick to simply hiring a car from a hire company. You will need to catch public transport to get to the car’s parked location [at least 99% of us will], you still have to drive through peak hour like everyone else, you still need to park it somewhere and pay for parking while you shop/work and you have to bring it back and park in the same spot if nobody else has taken the parking bay for themselves. If you become a regular user you may as well own your own car, it’ll be cheaper in the long run.
If there is a higher than usual demand for this service, you can be left with no car available to make your commute. About the only people who will benefit from this are those who don’t own vehicles and find public transport for some reason not useful, but if you need to book the car a few days in advance a taxi would do the same job just as effectively.

The statement of “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.” isn’t exactly true because the hire cars are still taking up parking somewhere all day, whether it is at their home base or out and about somewhere. Their designated parking spot is taken up all day and night even if the car isn’t there, so it is conceivable that the hire car is taking up two public car spots at the same time. The more we see of these vehicles, the less public parking space there will be for the rest of us. If the aim is to only have these vehicles at new high rise apartments with no parking for residents, the attraction to move into such a building will negated by the lack of suitable transport to get you from home to anywhere, unless there is a car for every residence out the front. Wouldn’t you just hate it that you can’t book a car because they are all taken, then think back to the days when you used to own your own car and could use it any time you liked?

If you live in Braddon and work in the City or Kingston, then this could very well be a viable option for the occasions if you need to go further away – and rather than paying for a full day or two, as you do with car hire companies, you’d pay for the time that you use it. As Canberra becomes more built up, services like this become more useful to those who don’t need a car all the time. The point isn’t to use them every day, but to have an affordable option if and when you need it.

JC said :

rubaiyat said :

Great to see stuff like this finally happening in Canberra, now we just need them to expand the network to include Belconnen, Gunghalin, Woden and Tuggeranong and then we will have a real option available.

What is the real option over?

Over not owning your own car, if you don’t need to drive every day. For example, if you live within walking/cycling/public transport distance of your work and close to one of the centres, then it might be more financially viable to not own a car and to use these services when you need to go somewhere further away. That’s why the City/Kingston trial is good – they would, statistically speaking, be the ones most likely to use a service like this.

So far, it’s one of the easiest systems to implement and a real-world trial to see if we can reduce the amount of cars on the road and free up parking in the busy hubs. I would absolutely use one of these services if it was viable – even with the membership/usage fee, it is still cheaper than services, petrol, rego and general upkeep of owning a car.

rubaiyat said :

The next phase would be google taking over Uber ! All cars would be driver less !

And the phase after that I believe is known as Skynet!! Does anyone know where to reach Sarah Connor these days?

The next phase would be google taking over Uber ! All cars would be driver less !

wildturkeycanoe7:35 am 19 Apr 16

I see nothing different about this car sharing gimmick to simply hiring a car from a hire company. You will need to catch public transport to get to the car’s parked location [at least 99% of us will], you still have to drive through peak hour like everyone else, you still need to park it somewhere and pay for parking while you shop/work and you have to bring it back and park in the same spot if nobody else has taken the parking bay for themselves. If you become a regular user you may as well own your own car, it’ll be cheaper in the long run.
If there is a higher than usual demand for this service, you can be left with no car available to make your commute. About the only people who will benefit from this are those who don’t own vehicles and find public transport for some reason not useful, but if you need to book the car a few days in advance a taxi would do the same job just as effectively.

The statement of “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.” isn’t exactly true because the hire cars are still taking up parking somewhere all day, whether it is at their home base or out and about somewhere. Their designated parking spot is taken up all day and night even if the car isn’t there, so it is conceivable that the hire car is taking up two public car spots at the same time. The more we see of these vehicles, the less public parking space there will be for the rest of us. If the aim is to only have these vehicles at new high rise apartments with no parking for residents, the attraction to move into such a building will negated by the lack of suitable transport to get you from home to anywhere, unless there is a car for every residence out the front. Wouldn’t you just hate it that you can’t book a car because they are all taken, then think back to the days when you used to own your own car and could use it any time you liked?

rubaiyat said :

Great to see stuff like this finally happening in Canberra, now we just need them to expand the network to include Belconnen, Gunghalin, Woden and Tuggeranong and then we will have a real option available.

What is the real option over?

dungfungus said :

No_Nose said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

Good grief!

There you go again.

How much can it hurt to try? Total cost to the taxpayer 22 car parking spaces throughout Canberra!

The CEO of GoGet Tristan Sender says:
“Car sharing actually frees up space for resident parking.
We believe that what we’re doing is helping residents to not own their own vehicle, our product makes it possible for people to give up their car and use car sharing instead,” Sender says. “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.”

The new “value added” units to be built along Northbourne Avenue will most likely have car share parking and nothing else. It will be interesting to see who pays for the actual creation of the car parking spaces.
This is already being done in some larger cities that have real traffic problems; fair enough.
but I don’t think Canberra is the place for this and as usual, there is little detail on the finance part of the deal.
How much will it cost Canberra ratepayers well, who knows?
It’s all very easy to say there is 22 x $30 per day foregone but there must be a lot more involved.
And it is not “throughout Canberra” it’s predominantly Civic and inner North Canberra.
It’s hard to be enthusiastic when the last couple of government thought bubbles have failed spectacularly costing ratepayers millions of dollars.

According to you, the Government should do absolutely nothing in case it doesn’t work.

Just as you want the Federal Government to do absolutely nothing on the environment, guns, economic pump priming, and a host of other issues.

You however have no hesitation at recommending Governments throw money away at whatever itches you. The dirtier the better, apparently because irrationally you associate that with prosperity.

…except when it is in your backyard and you actually can’t avoid having your nose rubbed in it. Then you want action, full steam ahead, damn the treasuries!

It is in the nature of conservatives to be purely selfish and self centred, I get that. I just wish you understood that it isn’t all just for you. You have benefited enormously from governments over your life, just because you have had it all, you should not simply say, that was then, this is now and pull up your drawbridge, damn everybody else.

For a very small cost, the government gets to try something that could cut down cars in the city. If it works, you’ll actually have less cars on the roads and more places for you to park. If it doesn’t, things will continue to get more congested, just the way you want then to.

Great to see stuff like this finally happening in Canberra, now we just need them to expand the network to include Belconnen, Gunghalin, Woden and Tuggeranong and then we will have a real option available.

No_Nose said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

Good grief!

There you go again.

How much can it hurt to try? Total cost to the taxpayer 22 car parking spaces throughout Canberra!

The CEO of GoGet Tristan Sender says:
“Car sharing actually frees up space for resident parking.
We believe that what we’re doing is helping residents to not own their own vehicle, our product makes it possible for people to give up their car and use car sharing instead,” Sender says. “We’ve taken over 50km of parking off the streets by people deferring purchasing a car.”

The new “value added” units to be built along Northbourne Avenue will most likely have car share parking and nothing else. It will be interesting to see who pays for the actual creation of the car parking spaces.
This is already being done in some larger cities that have real traffic problems; fair enough.
but I don’t think Canberra is the place for this and as usual, there is little detail on the finance part of the deal.
How much will it cost Canberra ratepayers well, who knows?
It’s all very easy to say there is 22 x $30 per day foregone but there must be a lot more involved.
And it is not “throughout Canberra” it’s predominantly Civic and inner North Canberra.
It’s hard to be enthusiastic when the last couple of government thought bubbles have failed spectacularly costing ratepayers millions of dollars.

Raging Tempest2:43 pm 18 Apr 16

No_Nose said :

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

How much can it hurt to try? Total cost to the taxpayer 22 car parking spaces throughout Canberra!

Because these spaces are all central Canberra, so its another boon for the inner city dwellers paid for by those in the ‘burbs. A wider spread of spaces would be better so those in outer areas without cars don’t need to spend so much time and money on being able to access them, not to mention the restrictions on being able to access them only when public transport can get them back home afterwards. Good idea, execution not so much.

Masquara said :

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

Good grief!

There you go again.

How much can it hurt to try? Total cost to the taxpayer 22 car parking spaces throughout Canberra!

Good grief!
Here we go again.
How much will this Green folly cost us ratepayers?

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