City of Hayward awarded major grant to expand car sharing
Program to support City’s environmental and transportation planning goals
Hayward, C.A., (January 28, 2015) – On Tuesday, the Hayward City Council approved a resolution allowing the receipt of a $200,480 car sharing grant, recently approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The City will use the grant funds to administer a request for proposals (RFP) to expand car sharing services to Downtown Hayward and other priority locations.
Car sharing is a model of car rental by which people can rent cars for shorter, more frequent trips, often as an extension of existing public transportation. The only car sharing provider currently operating in Hayward is Zipcar®, which has five vehicles at the California State University East Bay campus. These cars are intended for residential students and do not serve the larger Hayward community.
Taking into consideration demographics, housing density, and public transportation options, the City is confident that the car sharing model is feasible in several additional locations throughout Hayward. The grant will
subsidize start-up costs and the City will provide matching resources in the form of free parking, exclusive use of electric vehicle chargers and assistance with marketing and outreach efforts. In addition to the Downtown BART area, locations under consideration include the Cannery area, Life Chiropractic College and the South Hayward BART area. The City will provide incentives to the car sharing service provider to use electric vehicles.
Car sharing supports the City of Hayward’s goals of reducing transportation-related emissions and reducing the community’s dependence on private automobile transportation. With the support of City Council and funding approved by MTC for allocation, the City anticipates starting the process of expanding car sharing within the coming months. When fully implemented, this program is expected to produce measurable decreases in greenhouse gas emissions annually.
The MTC grant is part of the Climate Initiatives Program, which is an integral strategy of Plan Bay Area, a comprehensive transportation and land-use plan. Plan Bay Area projects that car sharing will reduce per capita CO2 emissions by 2.6% by 2035. Other grant recipients include the, Contra Costa Transportation Authority ($974K), the City of Oakland ($321K), the City of San Mateo ($210K), Sonoma County Transportation Authority ($170K), and the Transportation Authority of Marin ($125K).
