When engineer Douglas Webber visits a client across town, he doesn't need to worry about getting taxi chits, filling out expense claims or checking whether his wife needs the couple's only car that day. He just calls AutoShare and books one of the 64 cars it has available at various Toronto locations.

That's because his employer, Halsall Associates Ltd., is a corporate member of the Toronto car-sharing network, giving the firm access to a flexible and cost-effective fleet.

"My life is much better," Webber says. There's less stress, fewer costs and he fits in an hour of reading during his daily subway commute, knowing a vehicle is available barely more than a block away from his office for work-related trips.

For approximately $6 an hour plus 15 cents per kilometre, AutoShare members - corporate or individual - can use a vehicle for a short trip or a full day, with no need to worry about such big-ticket items as insurance, maintenance and gasoline.

Ken Kerr, Business Edge
AutoShare member Douglas Webber is upfront about some of the disadvantages of the services, including the age limitation and drop-off rules.

It's an idea that's catching on. AutoShare boasts about 2,000 members in Toronto, of whom about 15 per cent are corporate members. And the number is increasing, says company president and majority owner Kevin McLaughlin, citing growth rates between 40 and 60 per cent annually.

Early on, the biggest marketing challenge was to create awareness of the service, which many people confused with ride-sharing.

Once people realized AutoShare offered private cars for rent by the hour, says McLaughlin, the next issue was addressing common doubts: Will there really be a car available when I need one? What happens if I have a problem with a vehicle? And will the organization still be around in a couple of years?

Six years and five million kilometres later, McLaughlin likes to think that AutoShare has shown the system works.

The main attractions of AutoShare are financial: The average member saves $4,700 a year compared to owning a car, based on 2003 Canadian Automobile Association numbers.

Convenience is also a selling point. It's faster than renting a car and users pay only for the time used, which is itemized on a monthly bill. Vehicles can be reserved by phone or over the Internet, and the organization claims that a car is available for 95 per cent of requests.

Darin Yorston joined almost three years ago. While biking gets him to many of the places he needs to go, his part-time work as a preparator for art galleries and interior designers across the city demands a car.

"I'd heard about similar things in Europe, and it seemed like a really good idea," he says. The closest car is just 10 minutes away, and although it's not always available - Yorston often works on short notice - he's always been able to book a reservation.

More than 10,000 Canadians are members of similar organizations from Quebec City to Vancouver Island. Some outfits are small - Guelph's Car Co-op consists of a single car - but Vancouver's Co-operative Auto Network has 94 vehicles and Montreal boasts almost 250.

The People's Car Co-op in Kitchener-Waterloo has five cars, with plans to expand to Cambridge in the near future. In Ottawa, VrtuCar offers its members a choice of 21 vehicles and has four corporate members, including the local Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) store and Bridgehead, a fair-trade coffee business.

"We're really trying to reach the business community," says Chris Bradshaw, a partner in the for-profit VrtuCar. Car sharing is a more efficient option for staff and employers, he adds.

Employees who don't commute by car don't take up valuable parking spaces and they aren't forced to buy a car simply because they occasionally need to make work-related trips. It's also more efficient than owning a corporate fleet, which can sit unused on evenings and weekends.

AutoShare - also a for-profit venture - plans to promote the corporate fleet more strongly as a cost-effective alternative to rentals, cabs or reimbursing mileage. For companies that prefer not to share the cars they use, there's an option of exclusive access during business hours.

Current corporate members include MEC, a large urban design firm and several small businesses. Many, such as Halsall Associates, allow employees to use cars for personal trips and then reimburse the company.

The biggest drawback, says engineer Webber, is that members have to be at least 25 years old. That means many of the company's new hires, fresh out of university, don't qualify.

Another minor irritation is that the car has to be returned to the location it was taken from. "So if you're going to a meeting from home," Webber says, "it just doesn't work.”

Otherwise, he says, it's amazingly effective.

As AutoShare continues to expand, McLaughlin plans to increase the number of locations. "It's our goal to have a car within a five-minute walk anywhere in Toronto," he says.

This year, Mercedes-Benz's diesel-fuelled smartfortwo car, as well as hybrids, will be added to the current mix of Toyota Matrixes, Corollas and Echos, Suzuki Aerio Fastbacks and Dodge Grand Caravan cargo minivans.

AutoShare also is pursuing partnerships with condominium developers in Toronto. It can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 to build a parking spot, McLaughlin says, and developers often lose money in the process, or at best break even. Potential buyers insist on having parking space even if they don't own a car, because it adds to their unit's resale value.

So far five developers have signed deals to make their buildings' residents members of AutoShare and put a shared vehicle right onsite. Developers reduce their costs, residents have convenient access to a car when they need one and AutoShare continues to boost its membership.

Not only that, the city benefits because one shared car replaces about eight vehicles, reducing traffic, smog and greenhouse gas emissions.

For McLaughlin, whose eco-credentials include founding a national schoolyard greening program, it's even more impetus to keep growing the business.

"Our ambition is to be a sustainable green venture," he says. "In order to deliver the environmental benefits that we started out to deliver, we want to get as big as possible."

(Julie Stauffer can be reached at stauffer@businessedge.ca)