Car2Go's focus on downtown driving has some members reconsidering commute

Changes to Calgary'sCar2Gocoverage area are not getting a smoothridewith customers on the outskirts of the city.

People who live or work in places just beyond the core, such as Bownessin the city's northwest, say they won't be able to drive the cars and leave themwithout paying a price.

• Car2Go car sharing service cuts Calgary service area
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• City of Calgary creating designated Car2Go parking spots downtown

"If I leave it at Bowness, because it's not the home area, I can't sign out of it, so that means if Iuse it for threehours well, I'm paying all the time," saidIan Parsneau.

He lives in Marda Loop, which will remainpart of Car2Go'sservice area in southwest Calgary, but works in Bowness.

He becamea Car2Go member because he couldleave the vehicle in his work neighbourhood, he says.Parsneau did a double-take when he saw the new map.

"I could have sworn that there was a little horn in that home area where Bowness was and Iwas thinking, 'Well, it's not there anymore and then they showed the old one where there was Bowness,'" he said.

"That's when, kind of, the truth hit me."

The new reality for Parsneau and other users of the Texas-basedcar-sharing service beginsSept.28 when theCar2Goservice area will shrink from to114- to 73-squarekilometres.

Thesmallerservice area covers the parts of the city where96 per cent ofCar2Gotrips are taken and 92 per cent of its members live effectively cutting service to eightper cent of its customers.

"We'll be bringing down the border, from the north from John Laurie down to NorthmountDrive. In the west we're going to bring it in so that it goes into Montgomery and then in the southwest corner it's just going to be Glenmore Trail... going to be the bottom there." saidJon Wycoco,general manager of Car2Go.

"It's extremely annoying," saidBoris Henriquez, a frequent user of the service throughout the city.

"I seriously doubt people said, 'Cut the home area,'... I would say, just get more cars.It seems like you can make quite a significant amount of money just getting more of them."

The company is basing the move on complaints of car shortages in the downtown corewhere a majority of users live,according to Wycoco.

"We believe that this change will help ensure our vehicles are in constant circulation in these areas including the core, so it will allow more vehicle availability for our members to utilise these vehicles as well," saidWycoco.

As the city grows, he says Car2Gowhich has been in Calgary since 2012isopen to re-expanding the service area.