The co-op is in the process of acquiring three brand-new 2012 Toyota Matrix vehicles for the fleet. The first two are already in service – a red one stationed at Sun Life (Park & Union), and a white one stationed at King & Cameron. The third one will be blue, and will be introduced to the fleet soon!

The three new Matrix vehicles are replacing the three oldest vehicles in the fleet – the 2002 Toyota Echo, the 2003 Suzuki Aerio, and the 2003 Toyota Corolla. Once these vehicles are sold, the entire fleet will have air conditioning and power locks, two creature comforts that were missing from the co-op’s three oldest cars.

Other great things about the new Toyota Matrix vehicles – they all have cruise control, and auxiliary audio jack inputs, bringing the total number of cars in the fleet with these extra amenities to five each (four of which have both).

The addition of these new cars is a great step forward in improving the age and quality of the co-op’s fleet, and we hope all members enjoy driving the new cars!

Community CarShare has introduced new rate plans this Spring to provide the lowest entry cost the co-op has offered in 14 years of operation.

With the new Regular Plan, the membership loan is just $10 (reduced from $400) and the improved Simple Plan maintains its $10 membership loan. Along with a $30 application fee and $10 key deposit, new members on these plans join for just $50 upfront—reducing the barrier to join for many.

“With this nearly 90 per cent reduction in the cost of joining, membership now makes sense for any household that needs an extra car occasionally,” said Jason Hammond, president. “Whether it is your only vehicle, a second car a few times a week, or a back-up plan for when your own vehicle is in the shop, we have a membership plan that will work for almost any driver.”

The co-op’s improved Simple Plan membership is designed for the occasional driver, with a $40 annual fee to maintain membership. The driving rates on Simple Plan are $10/hour or $70/day, with 100 free kilometers included.

For more frequent drivers, the new Regular Plan features the co-op’s best driving rates – $4/hour on weekdays, and $0.30 per km. That means a two-hour trip the grocery store would cost about $11. Regular Plan also features a 24-hour weekday rate of $30/day (plus $0.30/km), and a 10-hour workday rate of $20 (plus $0.30/km).

As always, gas, maintenance, and insurance are included in the rates.

The co-op took a step forward this week by launching its first YouTube video and channel. Titled, “If These Cars Could Talk,” the video was produced by Marc Cameron and Emeri Schweigert of Neat Creative Media. Emeri also starred in the video, along with Sharyl Spring, your Hamilton Services Coordinator. The co-op’s goal was to create a video that would reach out beyond typical CarShare members and make a strong statement about car culture in North America.

Here are couple ways you can help out:
1. Post a link to the video on your Facebook page. Pick 5 of your friends and post the video on their pages with a comment (this helps the video go viral).
2. Tweet about the video with a link; include your favourite line from the video (Ours was “It’s not the 1950s anymore…”).

This video this marks the first time the co-op has attempted to promote CarShare beyond providing basic information about how our service works (i.e. here is how you get the keys, etc…) As members, we welcome your feedback about this video, and for future projects, what creative direction the co-op should take with its marketing initiatives.

Happy viewing!