Community CarShare was a non-profit,

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

co-op in southern Ontario, that was founded in 1998. It ran into financial trouble and was acquired by

Vrtucar Communauto is a Canadian carsharing company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that in fifteen Canadian cities and Paris, France. As of March 2018 it had 40,000 users, and a fleet of approximately 2,000 free-floating and station-based vehicles. ...

on 27 March 2018. They operated in Waterloo Region, Hamilton, Guelph,

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

, London, and Brampton. The co-op was founded in 1998, as Ontario's first carsharing program, under the name The People's Car Co-operative Inc.. At the 2014 AGM, the members of the co-op voted to change the incorporated name to Community CarShare Co-operative, Inc.

History

Founding years 1998-2005

Community CarShare began in Waterloo Region on April 1, 1998. It was started by a group of 10 friends who had a car donated to them, but didn't want to deal with the costs of car ownership. The first car was located in the City of Waterloo, near the corner of Bridgeport and Peppler street.

Local expansion 2005-2009

In Fall 2007, the co-op expanded its service into Cambridge when it added a tenth vehicle to the fleet. As part of the growth into Cambridge, the organization updated its operating name from The People's Car Co-op to Grand River CarShare, to reflect the environmental benefits of carsharing and to localize the name of the co-op.

Province wide expansion 2009-2014

In April 2009, the co-op's geographic borders expanded again when a group of Hamiltonians decided to join the co-op and expand service to that city under the co-op's second operating name, Hamilton CarShare. In less than five months, 50 new members were recruited, and three vehicles were launched in Hamilton in September 2009. Expansion to St. Catharines and Guelph in 2013 led to the adoption of the name Community CarShare in order to simplify the use of the name and convey the values of the organization. There are currently 76 vehicles available to members, with the majority of them located in

Kitchener-Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...

. The fleet includes many vehicles such as the Toyota Yaris, Corolla, Matrix, Prius C, plug-in Prius, Tacoma, the fully electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a Ford Transit Connect cargo van, Mazda 5 station wagon, and Dodge Caravan mini van.

Rural expansion

Community CarShare expanded to rural Elmira (population ~8,000 people) north of Waterloo. All vehicles in the fleet equipped with winter tires and can be delivered to a specific location.

Sale

As the original Ontario region carsharing service, it was sold to Canada's largest one,

Communauto Communauto is a Canadian carsharing company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that in fifteen Canadian cities and Paris, France. As of March 2018 it had 40,000 users, and a fleet of approximately 2,000 free-floating and station-based vehicles. C ...

, and its Ontario subsidiary,

, on 27 March 2018.

References

External links

Official site
{{Vehicle rental brands 1998 establishments in Ontario 2018 disestablishments in Ontario Carsharing Defunct transport organizations based in Canada Former cooperatives of Canada Kitchener, Ontario Non-profit organizations based in Ontario Organizations established in 1998 Organizations disestablished in 2018 Car rental companies of Canada