City CarShare Partners With Brower Center

Today, City CarShare (CCS) is celebrating Earth Day by announcing the placement of a new CCS location at the City of Berkeley parking garage, located at the Brower Center, one of the Bay Area’s most advanced green buildings, opening in May. City CarShare and the Brower Center are providing a Honda Civic hybrid vehicle, which is available to all members, including new users at the Center.

“City CarShare’s efforts to improve the environment are clearly aligned with the objectives of the Brower Center,” said Rick Hutchinson, CEO of City CarShare. “It is our mission to reduce greenhouse and other emissions, as well as congestion, in order to improve the quality of life in our cities. The establishment of this location at the Brower Center is a perfect intersection of each organization’s founding principles.”

CCS has long been focused on getting people to be less reliant on the automobile as a primary method of transportation. City CarShare vehicles are utilized in a manner that reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT). By reducing VMT, one of the most prevalent atmospheric contaminants, CO2, is reduced significantly. In fact, in 2009, CCS members will save almost 35 million lbs of CO2 in the Bay Area by using City CarShare’s fuel-efficient fleet to meet transportation needs that cannot be met by walking, biking or utilizing public transit. With membership growing at CCS, new locations, such as the one at the Brower Center, expand the network to help further decrease CO2. CCS’ network contributes to cleaner air and quieter streets while providing more open space through better land use.

Opening in May, 2009, the nonprofit Brower Center will be home to several progressive organizations and provide offices, community gathering space and programming to promote a just and ecologically sustainable society. CCS members will be able to use the Honda hybrid – and additional vehicles to be added in the future – as they would any other car in CCS’ fleet but also have the opportunity to enjoy the Center and learn about its goals. “It’s very important to us for visitors to the Brower Center and people working here to utilize City CarShare cars and come to work using transit, biking and walking,” said Amy Tobin, Executive Director of The Brower Center.

CCS has long been on the forefront of the car share movement in the Bay Area. In addition to the new POD location at the Brower Center in Berkeley, CCS also partners with the City of Berkeley to provide fleet vehicles for City employee use that are also available to the broader CCS membership. The City of Berkeley and CCS also provide the only wheelchair accessible car share vehicle in the country, known as the AccessMobile, to serve members who have disabilities along with all CCS members.

The Brower Center is located at 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA and will be hosting their grand opening celebration on Sunday, May 10th. For more information: https://browercenter.com/programs/openhouse

About City CarShare:

City CarShare (CCS) is a Bay Area nonprofit that provides convenient, affordable access to shared cars in order to reduce individual car ownership and usage. With a mission to improve the environment and quality of life in our cities, City CarShare continually strives to make their service so convenient, so reliable, and so affordable that people will prefer using a CCS car to owning their own. In doing so, CCS members are helping to reduce traffic, parking problems, and dependence on oil—while promoting cleaner air, quieter streets, and more open space. For more information about membership and current promotions visit www.citycarshare.org.