Car2Go Coming to Calgary Edit- closing as of October 31

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

How couldn't it? The utilization of each unit had to be higher than individual, private ownership. Or at least that was the business case.

Doesn't that only mean that it is a good value for the consumers who use C2G? That doesn't seem to really speak to whether it was a good business itself.

[Ducay]

Guess now is the time to pickup a beat-up, ridden-hard Smart car on the cheap

[Fuzz]

We should race them. SmartCar Race series, fat tire edition.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Wormius

This model of creating something that is good, but totally unsustainable for various reasons is a weird way to run a business. Do these guys expect to run at a loss for several years and hope that any competing technology is driven out by then, and then they can jack of up prices to something that actually works?



Smart cars and Mercedes are expensive to begin with, then you have maintenance, gas, random repairs, insurance, etc. Was C2G really charging enough for the use of the cars?

Should have at least tried to increase the cost they were charging. Hell, at least try to double it or something. Not sure why they just rolled over.

[ken0042]

They did a price increase just before ending operations. I wonder if that was enough of an increase to have them lose customers. If they still needed to have another increase, and knew it would cost them even more, maybe that is why they decided to get out of it.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by ken0042

They did a price increase just before ending operations. I wonder if that was enough of an increase to have them lose customers. If they still needed to have another increase, and knew it would cost them even more, maybe that is why they decided to get out of it.

Yeah, just not a viable business perhaps.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

^ What a massive collapse. I don't know the details of their takeover by Share Now, but it seems to have gone downhill fast after that.

If you look at how many cities they've been pulling out of over the last few years, I suspect this was inevitable. At least in North America:

2019: Austin, Calgary, Denver, Portland
2018: Toronto, Columbus
2016: Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Diego, Miami
2015: South Bay, Eugene OR

And in those five years, Chicago was the only North American market they have entered. It's pretty clear the North American business has been limping along for years.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Guess now is the time to pickup a beat-up, ridden-hard Smart car on the cheap

We could stage a Smart-Car Demolition Derby!

What do they do with the Stampede grounds in the off-season? Is that track open?

[Bigtime]

Another Car Sharing Company is coming, Communauto.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1298656343977365504

[Ozy_Flame]

That's already in Edmonton. Haven't used it but it seems well used here. I believe there are more than just one type of car though?

[topfiverecords]

Saw two in a parking lot in Kensington last night.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Another Car Sharing Company is coming, Communauto.

I can't wait to see their fleet of Trabants and Ladas on the streets.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I can't wait to see their fleet of Trabants and Ladas on the streets.

"Put it in H!"

[burn_this_city]

She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Another Car Sharing Company is coming, Communauto.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1298656343977365504

Is Commun short for Communicable Disease?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I can't wait to see their fleet of Trabants and Ladas on the streets.

Skoda, it is car.

[TorqueDog]

I went to go sign up and noticed they want to run a credit check. I've inquired to see if it's a hard or soft inquiry (I'm guessing soft since they don't ask for a SIN number). If it's a hard inquiry, I'd hold off signing up until the service is actually here. Unnecessary credit bureau pulls can lower your score.

[timun]

Very curious how big their "home zone" will be. I lived near the edge of Car2Go's; if it doesn't go at least as far south as Glenmore-ish I don't think I'd even bother.

[Bigtime]

We just went down to a one car household as of a few weeks ago, so the timing of this is nice. However it looks like as a mobile experience the app may not be the best (at least on IOS), the reviews just hammer it. May not be a smooth interface like Car2Go was. Hopefully lots of questions for Calgary get answered at the announcement. Home zone? Parking situation? One way trips versus other rental options.

Edit: Their Alberta page is now making mention of Calgary: https://alberta.communauto.com/ FLEX vehicles only for Calgary as of right now (so like Car2Go).

Here is the Calgary home zone:

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Not big enough. Needs to extend west to the university north of the river and 37th st station in the south, and at least cover the west side of Macleod. I assume the carve-out downtown is due to parking issues.