Businesses in Vancouver and Whistler have started participating in a car-sharing program designed to reduce two different kinds of overhead - air pollution and operating expenses.

The Vancouver-based Co-operative Auto Network (CAN) launched its CorpCAN program for businesses last week. The program expands on CAN's car-sharing program for individuals and families that has been operating since 1997.

"We have now incorporated another business that will allow for corporate users to access CAN cars," says Tracey Axelsson, CAN's founder and executive director. "We'll have more cars located in the downtown core. We're probably going to start up with at least two new cars in the area and then we'll see how it goes from there. So far, the corporate clients that have been looking at us are located where we already have cars, so it's not a big challenge."

Under the car-sharing program, businesses will have use of the vehicle without actually owning it, and they will not be liable for collisions or theft, which are covered under CAN's group insurance plan.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Tracey Axelsson, co-ordinator of the Co-operative Auto Network, says it's an environmental organization at heart.

Private and public firms and not-for-profit organizations of all sizes have access to approximately 95 vehicles (taking into account the two new purchases) from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. A $1-per-hour surcharge will apply for business use after 6 p.m. because the evening is considered a peak time for personal use.

The business car-sharing program represents a shift in philosophy for CAN. When CAN started, it banned corporations from joining because, Axelsson says, the organization could not figure out how to include companies in its co-op model.

That move disappointed small-business owners and self-employed people who had already joined to access vehicles for personal use, says Axelsson.

"They keep coming to us, which is why we have finally said, 'OK already! Fine, we'll get into it,' " she says with a chuckle. "We've been working really hard to develop the model that we have, but I really think it's time for us to offer (the same service for) business communities."

Each firm will pay a $500 deposit plus administration, user and mileage fees. Monthly fees vary depending on the amount of use. Five drivers from an organization will have access to CAN vehicles, which are parked across the Vancouver area.

Extra user and mileage fees will apply.

The Diamond Centre for Living has already started using the cars while Small Potatoes Urban Delivery Service, Mountain Equipment Co-op, small grocers, architectural firms, developers, drycleaners and even a pizza delivery driver are expected to sign up.

"We're cheaper - he gets paid more per kilometre," says Axelsson of the pizza driver.

Despite the car-sharing label, vehicles vary from compacts to mini-vans and pickup trucks. Three of the vehicles are gas-electric hybrid cars designed to reduce fossil-fuel consumption. One is kept in Whistler because its fuel mileage is more conducive to highway driving.

"We are, first and foremost, an environmental organization," says Axelsson.

"We are looking at ways to reduce the impact of cars on the road, the water, the air, the space that we have, the green space, all of these kinds of things. We want to make our streets safer and quieter - and easier to get around in. Fortunately for us we also manage, with this kind of organization, to improve the quality of people's lives."

Axelsson says CAN's group insurance coverage enables members to use the vehicles for business purposes and transporting clients if necessary, while membership and user fees can be written off as business expenses. As a result, companies and other organizations that could not afford to own vehicles now have all the benefits of ownership at a fraction of the cost - and without the liability.

Axelsson created CAN while she was a student at Simon Fraser University in 1995. She needed a project to obtain a community economic development diploma and came up with the idea for a car-sharing program.

"When I finished my project, I quit my job at the Fraser Basin Council and came to work here," she recalls.

Axelsson secured a $42,000 grant from Van City Credit Union and the Co-operative Insurance Co., and $2,000 from the provincial government to cover accounting costs.

"And we had $45,000 in personal loans," says Axelsson. "My husband (Magnus) and another founding partner (no longer involved with the company) all signed our lives away. Those are paid off now and we don't need to do that anymore - thank God."

Initially, she worked from home but the not-for-profit company now operates out of downtown digs on Granville Street, employs nine people and boasts 1,800 members, about half of whom have given up the cars they used to own individually.

"Starting up was tough," says Axelsson. "We had to boulder through a lot of red tape. ICBC is not your easiest organization to deal with when it's just your own car or a business car. This is one that crosses into this grey field ... It really boggled bureaucratic minds."

Axelsson also obtained British Columbia Automobile Association coverage for all of the vehicles - after some wrangling. BCAA membership usually applies to individuals, but Axelsson arranged for her vehicles to be regarded as members.

"Yes, we do get mail for Miss Car 23," says Axelsson. "We're not sure how they know it's female."

It took six years for CAN to become self-sustaining to the point where administration expenses no longer prohibited car purchases and maintenance expenditures.

"We're growing all the time," says Axelsson.

"It's just amazing how quickly and wonderfully it is taking on a life of its own."

Darcy Rezac, managing director of the Vancouver Board of Trade, likes the idea of a car-sharing program.

"I lived in Toronto in the Beaches for three years and I think there was only one weekend where we used a car at all," says Rezac. "So you can live without a car. People in London do, people in Hong Kong do."

He says company operators are prepared to consider car sharing for business purposes, but it remains to be seen whether the practice is just a fad or will become widespread.

Web watch: www.co-operativeauto.net

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)