Presidio Trust and City Carshare Join Forces

Presidio of San Francisco (April 30, 2009) — It may seem counterintuitive to encourage people to drive less by making cars more accessible to them, but that is one of the goals of a new partnership between the Presidio Trust and City CarShare.

The Trust and City CarShare are providing a Toyota Prius hybrid that will be available to all City CarShare members, including those who live and work at the Presidio. The car will be located at the new City CarShare “pod” in the Torney lot, at the intersection of Letterman Drive and Presidio Boulevard, across from the Thoreau Center in the Presidio.

“We are very excited to extend car sharing to the Presidio, one of the largest open spaces in San Francisco. Our partnership with the Presidio Trust will provide vehicles that residents, workers and visitors can rely on as part of their alternative transit options,” says Rick Hutchinson, CEO of City CarShare. “Together, we are providing a means to reduce driving in the park while delivering on our mission to reduce CO2 emissions and improve the quality of life in our community.”

“Their culture fits with our goals for a long-term car sharing program at the Presidio,” says Chris Weeks, transportation and operations specialist with the Presidio Trust. “Theirs is a more sustainable car sharing model that fits well with our goal of reducing the number of single occupancy vehicles coming to the Presidio.”

The idea, says Weeks, is to make cars available to meet transportation needs that can’t be met by public transportation, biking or walking. In the process, City CarShare members become more efficient at planning trips and ultimately drive less. In fact, this year, City CarShare members will drive 30,000 miles less each day, saving over a million gallons of gas and keeping almost 35 million pounds of carbon dioxide — enough to fill 17.5 million average-size refrigerators — out of Bay Area skies!

Once they sign-up, City CarShare members can reserve a car either by phone or online. The average trip costs just five dollars an hour plus 40 cents a mile, with gas, parking and insurance included. Members have access to any vehicle in City CarShare’s fuel efficient fleet, be it a wagon to run to the market for an hour or a MINI convertible for a day trip.

“That’s one of the fun things about this program,” says Weeks. “It’s like getting a new car every time. You have access to cars you might not otherwise have a chance to drive.”

Weeks calls the City CarShare partnership “another arrow in a quiver of alternatives”– along with the guaranteed ride home program, which, like the name implies, guarantees workers a ride home in the event of an emergency and carpool matching which finds carpoolers another ride if their original ride becomes unavailable unexpectedly– for those who use alternative transportation at the Presidio.

“We envision not just Presidio residents using the car, but Presidio businesses using it as well as a fleet vehicle or for employees who might take public transit to work to be able to run an errand or go to a doctor’s appointment.”

For more information about membership and special promotions available to Presidio residents and businesses call the Presidio Trust’s transportation department at 415-561-5474 or visitwww.citycarshare.org.

Long at the fore of the car share movement in the Bay Area, City CarShare (CCS) is a nonprofit that provides convenient, affordable access to shared cars in order to reduce individual car ownership and usage. With a mission to improve the environment and quality of life in our cities, City CarShare continually strives to make their service so convenient, so reliable, and so affordable that people will prefer using a CCS car to owning their own. In doing so, CCS members are helping to reduce traffic, parking problems, and dependence on oil–while promoting cleaner air, quieter streets, and more open space.

The Presidio Trust was established by the United States Congress in 1996 to oversee the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The 1,500-acre site contains expansive open space and spectacular views, a 300-acre historic forest, and rare and endangered plants and wildlife. It also comprises nearly 6 million square feet of buildings, including 469 historic structures that contribute to its status as a National Historic Landmark District.”