Council staff and Cityhop have consulted the Newtown Residents Association and the Newtown Business Group over trialling a designated car-share carpark in Newtown’s Wilson Street shoppers’ car park.

You can view the City Hop Proposal from WCC  and  our Newtown Residents’Association Submission  here.

What is Car Share?

It is a convenient and reliable way for people living in the city and for businesses to have access to a car when they need one, without the cost and hassle of car ownership. Cars are parked at a central location and can be booked online for an hour or a few days at a time.

Car Share works well for all road users

Car share is the fastest growing congestion-buster in the world which takes many private cars off the road – and out of parking sites. Research shows up to as many as fifteen cars are removed from roads by each car share vehicle.

Cityhop is the only car share company operating in New Zealand so far, and their presence in Wellington is at a very early stage. It’s a fantastic opportunity that innovative Newtown will be the start up of a fledgling transport hub – a key part of establishing this new initiative in Wellington.

Across the Tasman, Sydney provides nearly four hundred on-street car share parks.

With 22 Cityhop cars operating successfully Auckland has championed car share as an important traffic management strategy

How does Car Share work?

People join up to the car share club and receive an electronic smart card which acts as the access to the car. Once booked the device unlocks and locks the car door so that the user can then turn the key in the ignition and drive off – very easy. Cars are parked on street and in convenient locations. Users return the car to the location they got the car from.

Members are charged on a per hour basis that includes petrol, servicing and all the other associated costs related to car ownership. Instead of thousands of dollars just to keep one privately owned car on the road each year, Cityhop has a modest membership fee, then $15 per hour of car use during daytime (that’s petrol included).  The best deal is a yearly membership at $10 per month, no application fee and free membership for other family members. (six monthly membership is also available).

What are the gains from Car Share?

Car share cars are within one to three years old, so have all the benefits of modern technology, energy efficiency safety features and cleaner fuel . (The median age of vehicles shed by car sharing households is eleven years)

Not investing in a car also frees people to choose the best way to travel each time – whether that’s a walk in the fresh air, jumping on a bus without parking hassles, enjoying a cycle ride, travelling with others, hiring a taxi or driving a local Cityhop car with a maximum 100km daytime limit

The transport money saved by individuals who car share can be then saved or spent in the local economy.

This Newtown start up will be convenient for local residents and good for local businesses and as support grows there will be more cars available in our Newtown hub.

With Newtown pro-actively leading the way Cityhop car share will in time expand like a snowball through Wellington!