A look in the rearview mirror: our first year

It’s hard to believe that Tuesday, December 15th, will be our first birthday.  Some of you may remember that blustery morning we gathered on Church Street last year to celebrate the arrival of car-sharing in Burlington with the unveiling of our fleet. Full of excitement and optimism, we hoped that our community would embrace car-sharing and that, together, we’d reduce our dependence on cars, save money and fuel, and improve the environment.  While we’re still young and continuously learning, we’re thrilled to report that we couldn’t be happier about our first year’s accomplishments. Please read on learn more about them, get a glimpse of where we’re headed, and also find out how we’ll be celebrating our birthday all week long. We hope you’ll join us in the festivities!  

Here are a few highlights we’re proud to share:

• We've added almost 450 members in our first year, including residents, 12 local businesses, and more than 100 students from UVM and Champlain College!
• Every car in our fleet is used an average of five hours per day—that’s a lot of sharing and double our goal!
• With nine cars in our network, we estimate that we’ve helped remove 30 cars from the road as our members have gotten rid of second (and third) cars.
• More than 30 passionate volunteers have gotten involved with CarShare Vermont and helped us tremendously—from our beloved board and committee members to stellar interns, pod nannies, outreach gurus, graphic designers, attorneys, fleet assistants, and the like—we truly are an example of a community’s commitment to change.
• We participated in more than 50 events this past year, including parades, festivals, and conferences; and we’ve also spread the love about car-sharing by giving dozens of presentations all over Burlington and beyond.
• The Campus Area Transportation Management Association (CATMA), UVM, and Champlain College continue to champion car-sharing for students, faculty, and staff and have committed to sponsoring CarShare Vermont vehicles on campus for the next three years—way to go!
• The City of Burlington recently joined us in an effort to reduce car commuting among employees, save on transportation costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CEDO is the first city department to sign up, and others will be following suit in the coming year.
• Of course, we would not have been able to accomplish the above without the support of our members, volunteers, supporters, and partner organizations. There are too many of you to list, but please know that we share our success with you and look forward to achieving even more together.

Come celebrate with us all week long!

CarShare Vermont is the result of our community’s support and commitment, and so we’d like to thank you all for helping us make it to our first birthday with gusto. Please swing by our office at 131 St. Paul St. anytime on December 15th through the 18th to say hello and join in on the birthday festivities. We’ll have cupcakes, sweets, and our sincere appreciation to share.

 

Tell us why you love us. . . and be entered to win free driving credits!

When you stop by anytime this week between Tuesday and Friday, you'll have a chance to confess to our video camera all the reasons you love car sharing.  Not only will you be rewarded with a birthday treat - you'll be entered to win free driving credits in our "i love sharing" birthday raffle!

 

We offer our sincere thanks for helping to make CarShare Vermont’s first year a success. We're looking forward continuing to build our services to help increase the transportation possiblities for folks in Vermont.

In the meantime, we wish you a peaceful and joyful holiday season.

Save the date, mark your calendar and head out to these community events!

Thursday, November 5, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Greek Orthodox Church, 600 South Willard Street
Ward 6 NPA meeting
Presentation on our community endeavors & feedback from Ward 6 residents.

Wednesday, November 11, 7:00pm-9:00pm
UVM's Waterman Building, Memorial Lounge
Ward 1 NPA meeting
Presentation on our community endeavors & feedback from Ward 1 residents.

Wednesday, November 18, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Keen's Crossing Community Room, 65 Winooski Falls Way, Winooski
Winooski Car-Sharing Expansion Project Community Open House
Open house to discuss Carshare Vermont's initiative to bring cars to Winooski in 2010. Come to learn more, provide insight into how car-sharing could work in Winooski, and enjoy snacks.

Thursday, November 26
Wherever you are
THANKSGIVING DAY! 
We'd like to give thanks to you all for your support and your willingness to try something new this year! If you are sharing cars this weekend, we'll still be there to help you if you need it. Just call us on the emergency line (the office will be closed).

Want to get involved and share your love of car-sharing with the rest of the community?  We're always looking for new volunteers to help with outreach, car-washing, snow shoveling, and more! To find out more, contact Karen at karen@carsharevt.org.

CarShare Vermont is a partner in a new video project that is taking the pulse of how the recession and fluctuating fuel prices are changing how we heat our homes, get around, and plan for our energy future. Visit the Champlain Initiative’s Changing Face of Chittenden County website to see a video of Annie Bourdon talking about CarShare Vermont!  While you're there, share your opinion or story, see what others think, and learn how you can take action at home, work, and in your community.
 
CarShare Vermont also recently organized a volunteer committee to explore ways that we can help improve the mobility of low-income community members, or anyone who doesn't have access to reliable and affordable transportation. While we’ve already received great feedback that CarShare Vermont is successfully saving our members money and helping them avoid owning more cars than they need, we’re committed to doing as much as we can to promote our service and make it accessible to as many people as possible. If you’d like to get involved with this effort, we’d love to hear from you. Please email Annie at annie@carsharevt.org.

Starting November 16th, we’ll have a new downtown pod in the public parking lot at the corner of Main St. and S. Winooski Ave. Please join us in thanking the City of Burlington for making this prime parking space available to CarShare Vermont!
 
Unfortunately, this exciting news does come with a flipside. Since we do not currently have the capacity to add a new car to our fleet, we must temporarily close an existing pod to make a vehicle for this location.  We’ve decided to move Otto, a handsome gray Prius that currently lives at the corner of N. Williams and Brookes Ave., to the new downtown pod. This decision was based on Otto’s performance compared to the rest of the pack, as well as the fact that there are several cars nearby Otto’s former pod location. We made our best effort to move the car that would adversely impact the fewest members. That said, we’re working hard to add more vehicles in 2010, and we’ll try to return Otto to his N. Williams St. home when we do.
 
One final note on pods: as the snowy months draw near, please remember that a few of our pods have alternative winter parking locations that make on-street parking bans and snow removal easier to manage. We’ll share more details soon so please stay tuned. And if you live near a pod and want to volunteer to be a winter pod nanny (and receive a discounted membership), please email info@carsharevt.org for more information. Thank you!