Peg City puts faith, new fleet into free-floating service

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/2023/05/17/peg-city-car-co-op-put...

IT’S a new era of car sharing in Winnipeg — one without city parking fees, advanced bookings and precise dropoff locations.

Peg City Car Co-op’s free-floating car-share program, nicknamed Flo, will launch June 7.

“I really feel the wind is behind our backs,” Philip Mikulec, Peg City chief executive officer, said Wednesday, standing near one of 35 Toyota Corollas set to join the program.

The vehicles won’t have a permanent home. Instead, they’ll stay in prescribed zones when not being used, untouched by City of Winnipeg time limits and, for the user, street parking fees.

It is “more flexible, but it’s more last-minute” than Peg City’s typical structure, Mikulec said.

Currently, Peg City vehicles must be booked for at least one hour and returned to the same spot from where they were picked up. The round-trip program — now nicknamed Fix — will continue alongside Flo.

“The two will complement one another,” Mikulec said.

Free-floating vehicles must be booked within a half-hour of use. Available cars will appear on a map, real-time, on Peg City’s app for users to book.

Members can drive those vehicles without a predefined end, and they don’t have to return the Corollas to the trip’s starting location. However, the car must be parked in one of 12 designated zones throughout the city.

When Jared Kozak exits his home base of Osborne Village in a Flo car, he can leave it in a designated zone in River Heights, Crescentwood, Corydon, Riverview, Lord Roberts, Norwood, St. Boniface, West Broadway, Wolseley, St. Matthews or the West End — or back in River-Osborne.

“(This will) revolutionize the way that we do last minute bookings,” said Kozak, a Peg City member.

The cars, which are decorated with Flo labels, can disregard city time limits and parking fees in designated zones highlighted on Peg City’s app.

“It’s, like, brilliant,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, who also serves as deputy mayor.

City council unanimously approved a bylaw change allowing for free parking of the co-op cars in the 12 zones.

It follows a pilot project in which certain parking spaces were reserved for car-sharing vehicles. Five spots became permanently reserved for car shares in early 2022.

Lukes couldn’t say Wednesday how much street parking revenue the city will lose because of the zones. Peg City Car Co-op will spend $875 annually on Flo car parking permits ($25 per vehicle).

For Lukes, the program’s gains outweigh the money lost. “It’s doing far more than revenue generation,” she said. “It reduces the wear and tear on our streets, it reduces the greenhouse gases, it’s good for the environment.”

Cars are expensive, and this is an alternate form of transport, Lukes added.

“It’s… really cheap,” agreed Zephyra Vun.

She sold her vehicle in 2019, and got a Peg City membership. She pays $4.50 monthly for a casual spot. A regular membership (with cheaper vehicle rental rates per hour) requires a $500 refundable share.

Members are set to pay 35 cents per minute while using Flo vehicles. The price caps at $10/hr and $50/day, with subsequent days costing $40. For a casual user such as Vun, the daily rate is $56.

There are nine Flo drop-off spots in clusters of three downtown and in the Exchange District. The cars can also be taken out of province.

“The cars are communicating with us,” Mikulec said. “If there’s something going wrong, and the vehicle has been suspiciously out of the zone for a long time and stationary, it’s going to alert us.”

Members will be asked to leave the keys in the vehicle after ending a trip in a designated zone. Once alone, the vehicle automatically locks itself down.

If it’s in a Flo zone, it will reappear as available on Peg City’s map, Mikulec said.

The company has attracted more than 3,000 members since its 2011 launch.

Communauto, Canada’s largest car-sharing business and a Peg City partner, assisted the local co-op in launching its app last month.

“I’m sure (free-floating cars) will be a big boost in membership and usage (for Peg City),” said Marco Viviani, Communauto vice-president for strategic development.

A similar program has been in Montreal for 10 years. Since then, the flexible model has spread to Quebec City, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., Viviani said.

In Montreal, usage of the flexible model nearly matches usage of the station- based model Peg City Car Co-op is known for, he added.

One car-sharing vehicle takes up to 15 privately-owned cars off the road, according to Peg City Car Co-op. Three-quarters of its members bus or take active transport to work.

Lukes (Waverley West) said she wants to see the new program model expand: “I just think that we need to have these (zones) all throughout the city.”

Meantime, Peg City Car Co-op also launched a new logo Wednesday, a green circle with white lettering. It will hold its annual general meeting May 31.

It has a fleet of more than 130 vehicles.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com