What Policies Help Carsharing Expand and Electrify in BC?
Esquimalt must now allow six-unit developments with no parking. As James Davison, the Township’s Manager of Development Services, put it: that doesn’t mean the people living there won’t have cars. They will still need to get around, and for many that means transit, walking, or a shared vehicle parked where the whole neighbourhood can reach it.
That makes carsharing policy a housing question as much as a transportation one. Yet across BC, each municipality still sets its own rules. On September 23, movmi brought together TransLink, the Capital Regional District, the City of Burnaby and the Township of Esquimalt to discuss what should change, and who should change it. Their answer: not the province. What they called for was regional guidance, local decisions, and, in Eve Hou’s words, “just willingness.”
The conversation built on a TransLink-commissioned study by movmi that reviewed carsharing policy across 38 BC municipalities, gathered input from municipalities, operators, utilities and universities, and compared international examples.
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Meet the speakers
Eve Hou
Senior Manager, Policy Development & Decision Analysis, TransLink
Tim Shah
Senior Transportation Planner, Capital Regional District
Kathy Ho
Senior Manager, Transportation Planning, City of Burnaby
James Davison
Manager, Development Services, Township of Esquimalt
What is holding back carsharing expansion in BC?
movmi’s research found recurring friction in parking governance, charging planning, market viability, data access and public awareness. A service that spans several municipalities may face several permit processes and different parking rules. That complexity affects operators and can make the experience less clear for members.
Demand is not the problem. In the capital region alone, Tim Shah noted, Modo’s fleet has grown 40% and its membership 45% over the past five years.
As the panel made clear, the solution is not a single rule imposed everywhere. It is clearer regional guidance combined with room for local conditions.
How can regional coordination make carsharing easier?
Eve Hou said what struck her most was how little Metro Vancouver municipalities coordinate. Each has negotiated one-on-one with operators, so the rules now differ, most visibly on customer-facing questions such as whether carshare vehicles can use metered or permit stalls. “There is no regional permit system,” she said. The practical next step is to convene municipalities and compare rules, starting with parking.
Neither Eve nor Kathy Ho saw a need for the province to step in. Eve said the study hadn’t identified any clear area where responsibility should move up a level. Kathy said provincial rules wouldn’t help because municipalities, councils and bylaws differ too much: “Something that will work in Vancouver, for example, will not work in Burnaby.” Both favoured regional guidance that each municipality applies locally.
Tim Shah made a similar point for the Capital Regional District, where urban, suburban and rural communities have different needs. The CRD’s new Regional Transportation Service is developing a regional transportation plan that will help define its approach.
Policy takeaway: Start with shared principles and customer-facing parking rules. Municipalities can then adapt implementation to their local context.
What can development policies do for carsharing?
New housing can provide shared vehicles, memberships and accessible parking spaces. The panel also cautioned that requirements must reflect whether an operator can sustain service at a given site.
| Example discussed | Policy approach | Practical lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Esquimalt | Parking reductions can be earned through carsharing and other transportation demand management measures. | Consider locations that let the wider neighbourhood access the vehicle, not only building residents. |
| Langford | In the city centre and transit-oriented areas: one vehicle plus memberships for all units at 50+ units, a second vehicle at 100 units. Smaller buildings can opt in to reduce parking. | Concentrate support where density and other travel options can sustain use. |
| Saanich experience | Requirements linked to land-use designations (bylaw now being updated) | Build flexibility into requirements and check operational viability early. |
James Davison described a 17-unit Esquimalt building with a shared vehicle, which shows carsharing isn’t limited to large towers. The vehicle must sit outside gated parking so the wider neighbourhood can use it. Tim Shah, drawing on his consulting work before joining the CRD, stressed putting vehicles where they strengthen the neighbourhood network. He pointed to Saanich, which tied carshare requirements to land-use designations. In some of those locations operators didn’t want vehicles because walkability or transit access was weak, so developers couldn’t deliver them. Saanich is now updating its bylaw.
How can smaller carsharing markets get started?
In communities with only a few shared vehicles, potential members may wait for a more useful network before joining, while operators need members before adding vehicles. Venkatesh Gopal described this as a “chicken-and-egg” challenge.
The Langford bylaw Tim Shah worked on as a consultant builds networks by concentrating vehicles in growing centres near transit and walking routes, using larger developments to add initial supply, and giving smaller developments a voluntary path to contribute. James Davison said Esquimalt has seen developers take up voluntary parking reductions for carsharing measures, while acknowledging that a small fleet may not yet be reliable enough for municipal staff who need a vehicle at a specific time.
Market takeaway: Build useful clusters of accessible vehicles and support awareness as the network grows. Measure uptake before relying on carsharing for time-sensitive municipal travel.
What will help electrify shared car fleets?
The study treats carsharing electrification as an infrastructure coordination challenge. James Davison described how Esquimalt already time-shares a public Level 2 charger: residents use it by day, and the municipal Nissan Leaf charges overnight. He suggested the same approach could extend to commercial and private parking, and noted that off-street charging is easier to deliver than charging in the road right-of-way.
Kathy Ho said Burnaby has more than 100 public charging ports and sees potential in opening municipal fleet chargers to outside users. Before that can happen, there are operational questions to answer: access, scheduling, liability, agreements and service needs. The biggest step, she said, is building a business case for internal support that shows the city’s own fleet service won’t suffer.
Tim Shah cautioned against rigid rules. Where electrifying an on-street stall isn’t feasible, getting a hybrid or gas carshare vehicle in place is still a win.
Implementation question: Before committing a charger or requiring an electric carsharing vehicle, who controls the site, who can access it, and how will charging work day to day?
How do residents discover and adopt carsharing?
Supportive policy works best when residents know where vehicles are, who can use them and how carsharing fits alongside transit, walking and cycling. James Davison emphasized explaining that a vehicle associated with a development may also serve the wider community. Tim Shah cited visible, convenient on-street locations in Victoria. Kathy Ho connected carsharing with Burnaby’s investment in walking and cycling and the need for clearer communication with developers and residents.
For a new market, visibility and awareness matter alongside the number of vehicles: residents are more likely to consider carsharing when the service is easy to find and understand.
What evidence and guidance do municipalities need?
Eve Hou said regional partners can help municipalities compare how carsharing is treated in transportation demand management policies. She also relayed two needs raised by operators: guidance for strata corporations that take responsibility for carsharing arrangements in new buildings, and data that can help make the case for effective policies to councils.
Tim Shah called for regional guidance informed by evidence about where carsharing sees stronger uptake, such as different land-use and parking settings. The point is to learn from implementation: a requirement on paper is only useful when the vehicle is placed, accessible and used.
What should regional and municipal stakeholders do next?
Asked for a single wish, Eve Hou didn’t reach for new legislation: “I don’t think anything monumental needs to happen. It’s just willingness.”
The panel returned to a few achievable steps: compare parking practices across municipal borders, develop regional guidance that leaves room for local decisions, test development requirements against operator viability, collect evidence on uptake, provide guidance to strata councils, coordinate charging access and explain carsharing more clearly to the public.
These priorities connect the webinar to movmi’s broader research. Parking and development rules establish places for vehicles; charging partnerships help shared fleets electrify; and incentives and outreach help residents use the service.
Explore the free research summary
The webinar draws on a larger study commissioned by TransLink and conducted by movmi. The free six-page summary gives you the key findings at a glance.
Carsharing Expansion & Electrification: Impactful Actions
A quick overview of the research approach, key findings, case-study examples and six priority actions.
View the free project summary →Frequently asked questions
Clear parking permits and curb rules, well-designed development requirements, supportive regional guidance and measures that help residents access and understand carsharing can all contribute.
People travel across municipal boundaries, while parking and permit rules are often set locally. Comparing and aligning relevant rules can reduce friction for operators and make services easier for members to use.
Developments can provide vehicles, memberships and suitable parking. Requirements work best where location, demand and operator viability support an ongoing service.
Reliable charging requires coordination on site access, installation, operations and scheduling among municipalities, utilities, property owners and operators.
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