Building a Culture of Car Sharing
When Dawn Montanye totaled her car this past summer, it was a moment of inspiration. Instead of heading to the car dealership to get a new car, Dawn began an experiment in car-sharing with the help of a few of her neighbors. She now borrows a car and contributes to the maintenance and other costs by paying for her mileage and gets to use the car for her regular transportation needs. Her car sharing group is in the process of putting together a more formalized model that they hope can be replicated in other communities. Together, Dawn and her neighbors are saving money and helping to reduce the number of cars on the road.
As an Ithaca EcoVillage resident with 25 years of experience in the field of sustainability, Dawn has always been committed to reducing her carbon footprint. And with her experience as a team leader for Way2Go, a Cornell Cooperative Extension program and local hub for transportation-related resources and information in Tompkins County, Dawn is equipped with unique expertise in the intersection of sustainability and transportation. Previously, Dawn had reduced her footprint by sharing appliances and tools, like lawnmowers, with her neighbors. Sharing a car was a more complicated process that involved trial-and-error and plenty of research, but the EcoVillage community was up to the challenge. In fact, throughout the years EcoVillage Ithaca has tried various models of car-sharing. With increased enthusiasm about a sharing economy, the time is ripe to test a model that can be rolled out more broadly. Dawn is currently working to establish a village-wide carshare program at the EcoVillage as well as develop guidelines for informal, community-based car-sharing initiatives that can be applied anywhere. Now, she wants to share the lessons she’s learned in the hopes that others can implement similar programs in their own communities.
Car-sharing is not a new phenomenon. Individual car ownership is not only a major contributor to global carbon emissions, it is also a terribly inefficient use of money and resources. For how much they cost in fuel and upkeep, cars mostly just sit in one place . Studies have shown that on average, cars lay idle 95 percent of the time, filling up parking garages and lots and lining the streets. More and more people today are opting for public transportation or turning to peer-to-peer services like Uber or membership in Zipcar which provides a ready fleet of cars for rent. In contrast, the car-sharing initiative at the EcoVillage is more informal. Instead of relying on a third party to facilitate the car-sharing process, cars are co-owned by members of the community. Everyone is included in the insurance policy, and regular costs like loans, registration, or maintenance are split evenly. In addition, each user pays for their individual gas mileage or electric vehicle charge. (Yes, at the EcoVillage they are sharing EV’s as well.) As a community, the group establishes ground rules and expectations for the day-to-day details of car ownership, like cleaning, tracking mileage, and managing accidents or damage. Each community’s agreement will be unique to their own situation. Although these agreements help establish accountability, they are not legally binding. At its heart, community car-sharing is about trust.
Trust and collaboration is nothing new for residents of the Ithaca EcoVillage. At the EcoVillage, sharing is a part of everyday life and fundamental to its mission of sustainable living. Sharing meals, for example, saves an enormous amount of energy from cooking. In intentional communities like the EcoVillage, where people share a common commitment to the environment, car-sharing seems like a natural development. But community car-sharing can be an attractive option to other communities as well. In lower and mixed-income neighborhoods, community car-sharing may be the most budget-friendly and efficient method of transportation, while also reducing traffic and the need for parking spaces.
Dawn admits that car-sharing can be difficult to accept in a culture that values independence so highly. Individual car ownership, for example, is seen as a sign of status and self-sufficiency, and buying your first car is often a right of passage. But sharing resources within a community can also encourage a sense of meaningful connection that can be lacking in many neighborhoods. Sharing often generates a cycle of reciprocity and generosity which benefits everyone in the community. If you need anything, chances are that your neighbors have something that might help or can offer you their expertise.
Ultimately, Dawn believes that building community and sharing resources are an essential part of tackling problems like climate change. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the global scope of the climate crisis. Our individual actions will not be enough to reverse the damage to our environment. Change is only possible if we can rely on our communities and tap into our most underutilized resource: our neighbors. Cultivating a culture of sharing will allow us to reduce our emissions, use fewer resources, and brainstorm solutions. Car-sharing is one step towards fostering community cooperation which all of us can take. In times of crisis, communities have always come together to help each other. In this time of uncertainty, our future rests on the resilient communities that we build today.
Editor’s Note: Join Dawn Montanye for a webinar on car sharing at the Ithaca EcoVillage on Wed, Oct 28th at 4:00 pm ET. Dawn and Anna Cook of Ithaca CarShare will discuss the reasons for and challenges of community car sharing .