Hamilton set to launch free-floating car-share pilot program

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Published June 9, 2022 at 4:21 pm

Hamilton set to launch free-floating car-share pilot program
The City of Hamilton is set to launch its first free-floating car-share program. The pilot will begin Monday with a fleet of 25 Communauto Flex vehicles.

The City of Hamilton is set to launch its first free-floating car-share program.

The pilot will begin Monday (June 13) with a fleet of 25 Communauto Flex vehicles deployed across Wards 1, 2, and 3 — essentially spanning from the Dundas boundary to Ottawa St.

Vehicles will be able to travel to destinations in other wards, but the vehicle will remain an active trip in the booking system until they return the vehicle to the designated wards.



The pilot program will operate in addition to Communauto’s existing round-trip station-based service, which has operated in Hamilton for over 12 years.

What makes the free-floating car-share different is the user’s trips don’t have to begin and end at a designated car-share parking spot. By-law amendments will allow users to park a car-share vehicle in a time-limited parking zone for up to 72 hours. The fee for an annual permit will be $270.78 plus tax.

Users will not be permitted to end their trip on through highways, in revenue-generating parking spaces, or in municipal car parks.

Toronto ran a similar pilot program from 2018 to 2020 and made it permanent after deeming it successful. According to a staff report, once users became more familiar with the service, less than 1.5 per cent of the free-floating car-share trips resulted in a vehicle overstaying its allotted time limit. The report also claims that one car-share vehicle can replace anywhere from six to 23 vehicles on the roads depending on the municipality studied.

The full staff report is available here.

More information on car-share services in Hamilton can be found on the city’s website.

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