Sydneysiders give car sharing policy the green light

PRESS RELEASE

Backed by overwhelming community support, the City of Sydney will soon adopt a new policy to maintain the growth of car sharing.

Over 98 per cent of submissions on the City’s Draft Car Share Policy supported proposed mechanisms to increase car share usage – including decreased operator permit fees – and efforts to ensure minimal disruption to businesses and healthy competition.

“Car sharing has proven a runaway success in the City and we have already exceeded our target of 10 per cent of households signed up to a scheme,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“We’re updating our car share policy to build on the success, because car sharing is an incredibly efficient use of parking spaces for residents and businesses.

“The research shows that every car share space replaces 10 to 12 cars on the street, freeing up constrained parking space for people who need to drive their own vehicle.

“The changes suggested by our local residents and businesses and car share operators will ensure car sharing spaces are allocated where they’re needed, well monitored and managed, and that the sector remains competitive.

The revised policy was placed on public exhibition in April for 60 days. A total of 520 submissions were from residents living in the city centre, and 60 from non-residents. A further 51 submissions were from businesses, and four from non-profit organisations.

In response to submissions, recommended changes made to the draft policy include: • Reserving the City’s right to reallocate spaces if one operator takes control of another

• Decreasing the proposed annual parking permit fee from $225 to $112, which covers half of the administration costs
• Allocating new spaces to car sharing vehicles based on the level of coverage in the area and the need for competition
• Extending the grace period on new car share spaces from six to 12 months
• Recognising peer-to-peer and operator car sharing information on the City’s online resources, including a map of car sharing locations
• Publishing annual reports online and opening them to third party auditing
• Extending the date of the next policy review from two years to three years
• Reserving the right to call for Expressions of Interest for use of existing car sharing spaces and assessing the timing for it at the 2019 policy review, which would be subject to a 12-month notice period and only apply to spaces at least 10 years old. Car share use in Sydney has grown dramatically since it was first introduced in 2007, with one in five of all city drivers now using car share, or more than 30,000 residents and businesses.

Evidence indicates the availability of shared vehicles reduces total household car ownership, therefore reducing demand for the more than 98 per cent of on-street car space not dedicated to shared vehicles in Sydney’s city centre.

City data also shows: • Car sharing is used by 31,591 city drivers – 21,510 residents and 10,081 from local businesses

• On average, nine new users sign up to car sharing schemes every day
• The City provides 692 on-street car share spaces. There are also 204 vehicles in private off-street developments. Altogether, these spaces average 35 members per space.
• Car share spaces take up only 1.7 per cent of the City’s on-street parking spaces outside the city centre. To view the updated policy visit sydneyyoursay.com.au/car-sharing-policy-update

For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Adviser Belinda Wallis on 0467 810 160 or email bwallis@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Paul McKay on 0432 182 647 or email pmackay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au