Car-sharing in Twin Cities hit record high in 2024

Car-sharing in Minneapolis and St. Paul hit a major milestone this year, marking 20 years of providing transportation for those who don’t have wheels.

The anniversary comes after a record-setting 2024, in which users of what has grown into one of the nation’s largest car-sharing systems made more than 191,600 trips — the most ever. Nearly 90% of those trips were taken in an electric vehicle, the most in the history of Twin Cities car-sharing.

New highs were set for the amount of pollution reduced and for how much money households saved on transportation costs, according to the annual Impact Report released April 21 by Hourcar, the nonprofit that operates the local car-sharing system.

“It was a great year,” spokesman James Vierling said. “It’s for everybody. It’s not just poor people’s transportation. It’s the best-kept secret.”

More people appear to be finding it. Hourcar membership jumped to 11,219 members last year, up 32% from the previous year, the nonprofit’s report said.

Caitlin Boley, of Minneapolis, has been using car-share since joining Hourcar in 2013. She uses the for-rent cars to run errands and take her rabbit to the vet. She has taken vehicles to visit friends in the suburbs and for a weekend getaway in Iowa.

“Sometimes I just go for a ride when I have hankering for a drive in the country,” Boley said. “I can live here without a car. It really is viable.”

With no car of her own, Boley, who works at the University of Minnesota, said she appreciates not having to worry when a snow emergency is called. Boley she said she wants to do her part to reduce her impact on climate change, and car-sharing allows her to live her values a “tangible way.”

More than 3 in 4 Hourcar users said they sold or deferred buying a car, according to the report. By using Hourcar’s fleet of electric vehicles, members collectively reduced harmful greenhouse gases and emission by 8,000 tons, the report said.

But perhaps the biggest driver of growth is coming from households that want to save money, Vierling said.

According to AAA, the cost to own and operate a new vehicle is now over $1,000 a month and about $12,300 annually.

“Given that the average vehicle sits idle 95% of the time, vehicle ownership costs over $28 per hour when the vehicle is used,” said Hourcar’s Zoe Green during a recent “Demystifying Car Sharing” webinar hosted by Move Minneapolis. “When compared to mobility plans offered through Hourcar, the average driver saves over half the cost of vehicle ownership by using our services, a $6,150 cost savings.”

Hourcar said its members reported a collective savings of $24.8 million on transportation costs last year.

Hourcar has two types of programs. One is a hub-based model where users check out a car at a specific location and return it there when finished.

A second model is the Evie program, which allows users to make one-way trips in electric vehicles, such as a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt, and leave them in an approved parking spot or at a charger. Trips are billed by the minute.

Hourcar recently arrived at Dow Towers in Hopkins as part of Hourcar’s Multifamily Electric Vehicle Pilot Project to bring car-sharing to people in low-income housing.

Evie is currently available in a 35-square-mile area in the Twin Cities. In the near future, the service will expand to four more East Side St. Paul neighborhoods.

“We are looking for another great year,” Vierling said.