Growing numbers turn to car share services in Wellington

By Jemima Huston

The number of people using car sharing services in Wellington has doubled in the past year to 33,000 and continues to accelerate.

That was according to Wellington City Council, which hoped these services would play an important role in decarbonising the city.

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of car ownership in the OECD, yet cares were only used five percent of the time.

Wellington resident Stephanie Coots has sold her car because she found car share services provide for her needs.

“I was never driving to work [and I] rarely drove to the supermarket because I live so close.

“So really having a car, it was literally sitting outside the front of the house gathering cobwebs”.

Between Mevo and CityHop – the two providers operating in Wellington – there were around 200 car share vehicles available to the public.

Wellington City Council’s chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said Wellingtonian’s interest in car sharing was not likely to slow down.

“Transport is the largest carbon producing element to this city so when we think about how we can decarbonise the city, we look to create opportunities and transport options.

“We think car share is another really important part of the solution”.

Car sharing was not like carpool or a taxi service – instead it was more like hiring an e-scooter.

Anyone can connect with a provider online, book a car, pick it up from a designated parking zone, use the car as long as they need to, and then park it back within zone.

The cost depended on the provider but ranged between $12 an hour for CityHop’s Toyota Yaris to $30 for Mevo’s Tesla Model 3.

Users can connect with a car share provider online and unlock any car with their phone or a keycard.
Photo: Supplied

CityHop operations manager Alexandra Scott said its service eliminates many of the hassles associated with car ownership.

“We have a vehicle for every use from economical hatchbacks, to electric vehicles, to SUVs and vans.

“[CityHop’s rates] also includes fuel, insurance, parking, registration, warrant, servicing.”

Scott said CityHop had grown significantly since it launched with three cars in Auckland in 2007.

“We’ve got thousands of members and we’ve had thousands of trips. Close [to] 50,000 members and 200,000 trips [across New Zealand] in 2022.”

CityHop vehicles can be picked up at designated carparks in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and many other towns.
Photo: Supplied

Mevo’s founding director and chief executive Erik Zydervelt said increasing interest in car share was down to people prioritising access over ownership.

He said Mevo’s research shows every time it put a new vehicle on the road, 10 private cars were sold or not purchased.

“Our streets and cities are just clogged with cars. They’re sitting in public space 96 percent of the time, not being used. Whereas our cars are doing the work of 10.”

Zydervelt said Mevo wanted to make its service better than owning a car for most people.

“Part of that is people save a great deal of money. Part of it is people get access to cars they might not purchase themselves.

“At the moment we’re rapidly growing the number of electric vehicles we have in our fleet. That means, without spending $50,000-$60,000, people can pull out their phone, find the closest [Mevo vehicle], unlock it, and they’ve got an electric car for the day.”

CityHop has hundreds of vehicles in a number of cities across the country.
Photo: Supplied

Pure electric car-sharing company Zilch operated in Christchurch and Auckland.

Co-founder and executive director Kirsten Corson said New Zealanders needed to rethink how much their cars were costing them.

“Does it really make sense to have all of that capital tied up in an asset that we hardly use?

“Kiwis are transitioning to other forms of mobility, selling their cars and adopting car sharing, which is fantastic. But we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Corson would like to see all the car share providers become pure electric or zero carbon.

“That would be a great step. Then also integrating with other mobility options to make it easy for consumers to make better choices about how they get around.”

Bernard Vella was another car share user who said it was the most convenient and cost-saving option for him.

“You might not need a car if you’re like me, if you’re young, and live and work in the city.

“But there might be those occasional times you need to pick something up.”

With three providers on the market, Mevo, CityHop and Zilch, there were hundreds of vehicles available to share across Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

And even more for CityHop in Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown and Wanaka.