VANCOUVER -- Car share users might soon notice a dramatic decrease in options in Vancouver as Share Now, formerly known as Car2Go, has announced it's leaving the North American market next year.
The car share company made the announcement Wednesday, adding that it's also stopping operations in London, Brussels and Florence as of Feb. 29. That also marks the company's last day of service in Vancouver.
"The decision to close (in) North America was made based on two extremely complicated realities," Share Now said in a news release.
"The first being the volatile state of the global mobility landscape, and the second being the rising infrastructure complexities facing North American transportation today - such as a rapidly evolving competitive mobility landscape, the lack of necessary infrastructure to support new technology (including electric vehicle car share) and rising operating costs."
Share Now will still continue to operate in 18 remaining European cities.
"We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to every employee, member, business partner and city stakeholder who have supported us throughout the years in these markets," Share Now's statement says. "We deeply regret the inconvenience this decision causes."
Share Now's departure will leave Evo, Zipcar and Modo as the three remaining car share companies in Vancouver.
Many car share users who spoke to CTV News Vancouver say they have memberships with multiple companies because if one doesn’t have any available vehicles nearby, another usually does.
With more people using fewer vehicles, members of the remaining car share companies in Vancouver could find cars scarce when they need them.
Staff at Evo say the company is still processing the news of ShareNow’s imminent departure, but the company has no immediate plan to expand its fleet to fill the void.
"Obviously, it's new news today so we have no plans to announce of any kind but we will be looking at, in the future, how do we maintain service for as many people as possible?" said Tai Silvey, vice president of car share for BCAA, which operates Evo.
According to a Vancouver city staff report from the summer, 34 per cent of Vancouver adults have a car sharing membership. That same report says that not only does car sharing reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but more than 60 per cent of Vancouver residents surveyed say they use car sharing as a way to save money.
