Car Sharing in Low-Income Communities

Vital Stats

Adam B

Buffalo, NY

  • people helped200
  • People Doing It 6

The Problem

Buffalo CarShare provides residents of Buffalo, NY the opportunity to reserve vehicles by the hour for short trips and errands. For many Buffalonians, car sharing is also much cheaper than owning a car or using a taxi. For some of our members, it eliminates the need to own a car and greatly reduces their carbon footprint. For others, it provides greater access to things like quality food, healthcare, and childcare. Buffalo CarShare’s recent membership survey showed that members feel more independent after having used our service and that car sharing provides almost all of the benefits of owning a car with very few of the associated burdens. Historically, few car sharing organizations have made it a point to serve low-income populations, but have rather appealed to a more affluent, white, and environmentally-conscious customer base. Having begun to identify barriers to car sharing in low-income neighborhoods, my goal is to invest resources toward overcoming these barriers in one of Buffalo’s more impoverished neighborhoods during Summer 2010. If these barriers can be overcome in the short-term, the solid base of new members in this neighborhood will cover the ongoing costs of providing car sharing for this neighborhood. I am seeking funding from Do Something to offset some of the initial costs of outreach to this neighborhood. My approach to identifying and overcoming the barriers to successful car sharing in low-income neighborhoods has begun to build upon the lessons learned by seasoned car sharing organizations while recognizing the shortfalls associated with successful car sharing in neighborhoods that have historically been underserved. Given where Buffalo CarShare is situated, in one of the most depressed cities in the U.S., I have the unique and extraordinary opportunity to investigate through research, observation, and outreach why other car sharing organizations have avoided low-income neighborhoods and how they can confidently move into this market as global car sharing membership grows in the coming years.

Plan of Action

CarShare is attempting to serve a population that has been historically underserved. Specifically this will entail difficulties such as financial limitations (i.e., applicants not having a credit card or reliable form of payment) and communication limitations (i.e., applicants not fully understanding the concept, using the service in a way that is not cost-effective, or experiencing language barriers). While these limitations may pose a financial risk for our organization, we are prepared to learn from our mistakes by using the principles of participatory action research and taking advantage of analogies in the transportation industry in order to overcome these limitations. In order to effectively reach out to the identified low-income neighborhood, it is necessary to have a small satellite office space that will act as a presence in the community and a center for those wishing to learn more about car sharing. Advertising and promotional materials are also necessary in order to successfully communicate the car sharing concept to community-based organizations and potential members. Do Something support could also fund the geographic information systems (GIS) software tools needed to evaluate the success of this early effort. A tangible outcome of this research will be a comprehensive GIS analysis of previous and existing car sharing hub locations across North America.
Go
Discrimination
Environment
Homelessness and Poverty

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