Flexcar Parks in Santa Monica

Kathleen Herd Masser
Mirror contributing writer
  
   Time-share has come to Santa Monica. Not in the form of vacation homes, but alternative fuel automobiles.
   Local developer JSM Construction has teamed up with Flexcar, a five-year-old, Seattle-headquartered, national car-sharing program with locations in more than 20 U.S. cities. At a press conference last week, JSM president Craig Jones and Flexcar executives unveiled the hybrid vehicle that will be take up residence at the Venezia Apartments on Sixth Street.
   “This is not the solution to transportation in Los Angeles,” says Flexcar president and chief executive officer Lance Ayrault. “It is one solution that fits very nicely into certain lives — people who choose to live in densely populated urban areas.”
   The company has 750 drivers across Los Angeles, sharing 30 cars, though they hope to have 100 within the year. The Venezia vehicle is the first in L.A. to be located in a residential building. Santa Monica has one other Flexcar, based at the Lantana development on Olympic Boulevard.
   Planning commissioner Terry O’Day – who helped bring the program to Santa Monica – calls Flexcar “a new way of living.”
   O’Day is chief operating officer of Environment Now, and the founder of a rental car company that offers alternative fuel vehicles at major airport locations (including Los Angeles International) in five states.
   “We have a comprehensive set of goals,” says O’Day, “for Santa Monicans to reduce their environmental footprint. Reducing car ownership by 10 percent is one of our goals.”
   According to Ayrault, “One shared car tends to eliminate six [personally owned] cars.” This ratio is based on statistics from Europe, where the car-sharing concept started 20 years ago.
   For a $25 annual fee, Flexcar members receive an access card that unlocks the doors when swiped over a card reader on the rear windscreen. The keys are in the glove compartment, but the car won’t start until the driver enters a personal identification number (PIN) into the dashboard computer. Drivers must be over 21 and under 75, and can access vehicles at any Flexcar location.
   The maximum charge is $10/hour, which includes gas, insurance and maintenance. The first 10 miles are free, then it’s an extra 35 cents per mile. Flexcar also offers plans for frequent users.
   Most reservations, says Ayrault, “are for shorter periods of time. The average is two-and-a-half to three hours, and seven or eight miles.”
   The typical driver, says Flexcar community development representative Katie Bennett, is “someone who occasionally needs to use a car, but doesn’t need the hassles of ownership.”
   As an example, Bennett cites a member who lives in Hollywood, two blocks from a Flexcar repository. “He uses public transportation to go to and from work, but occasionally needs a car to run errands. He needs a fraction of a car.”
   “Urban mobility” makes Santa Monica an ideal car-sharing market, says Flexcar general manager William del Valle. “There are a lot of ingredients. One is a walkable community, and Santa Monica is definitely that. People here have options for how they get around. Santa Monica has a very good transit system.”
   “We’ll start with one car in this building,” he continues, noting, “In our full-grown markets, you’re never more than a three- or four-minute walk from another vehicle. They’re like cash machines. They’re not all in one location, but you have access to all of them.”
   City councilman Bob Holbrook calls the program “exciting. I’ve read about this being done in Europe, where it’s most popular with people who commute from the countryside. This would be a convenience for people who live in Santa Monica, especially in the downtown area.”
   His council colleague Pam O’Connor (who bought an auto two years ago, after five years in the carless lane) agrees. “I wish this had been around when I was living without a car.”
   “At the time,” she explains, “transit worked better for me than a car. Yet I still needed access to a car periodically. I had to use rental cars. Flexcar opens up more possibilities. Part of this is about combining modes of travel. It’s multi-modal.”
   O’ Day sees the arrival of Flexcar as part of a larger movement. “Santa Monica represents one of the best examples of smart growth in all of California. People who live here can walk to their jobs, walk to the services they use.” (O’Day confessed that he drove to the press conference, but added, “I should have walked.”)
   Jones, the developer, sees another benefit.
   “Our typical building is 48 units and more than 100 parking spaces,” he says. “Flexcar could be a way of reducing parking requirements put upon us by local municipalities. We’re working with the city council and the planning commission to see if we can reduce parking requirements. We’re looking forward to this being the first of many Flexcars in JSM buildings.”