Ritchot to implement car share initiative by fall

The RM of Ritchot will be implementing a car share initiative that will provide residents with the means to get to where they need to go in sustainable manner.

“We started this project approximately 18 months ago with applications into funding with various levels of government,” said Ryan Faucher, economic development officer.

Faucher said the idea came about after seeing that residents in the countryside had no transit to get to appointments or to run errands. Models for the car share program came from Winnipeg’s Car Co-op and similar initiatives in New Brunswick and Québec.

The cars will be based in the communities of Ste Agathe, St Adolphe, Ile des Chenes, and Grande Pointe with the roll out date expected by this fall.

“It will of course be available to anyone who lives within the municipality, but the vehicles will be based in those communities. So, (if) someone wants to pick up one of the vehicles it may be at the RM office or it may be at the arena in Ste Agathe or TC Energy Center in Ile Des Chenes,” said Faucher.

The RM held two information sessions for residents and they got some interesting feedback. Residents in rural areas were concerned about getting access to the cars as someone will need to drop them off at one of the town centres to pick up the vehicle. The other was where the RM will find the money to fund the vehicles, which Faucher said came from different agencies and levels of government.

There were also questions about pricing and Faucher said the RM will release the pricing in about a month, but that it will follow the Winnipeg Car Co-op model.

“So, there will be a basic charge for insurance so that the drivers are covered should something happen, hourly rate and per kilometre rate. The per kilometer rate is just based on the long-term replacement of the vehicle so we want to make sure that we can continue the program into the long term and that it’s sustainable,” he said.

Winnipeg Car Co-op prices range from $3 to $12 an hour or $24 to $56 a day depending on the plan one gets.

One of the benefits of the program is that residents can take the car anywhere in Canada but being electric vehicles they have to have charging stations. Faucher said the range will mostly be within the RM or as far as Brandon before the vehicle needs to be charged.

The RM recently received $141,100 from the province for 23 charging stations.

“We’ve…found the benefits to using the electric vehicles within the municipality and the fuel savings we get. We wanted that to be available to residents particularly because most people commute to Winnipeg or commute to Steinbach every day for work. Having that ability, that access to charging infrastructure in the short term until it builds out more (will be) really valuable for those people wanting to make the change from conventional gas over to an electric vehicle,” said Faucher.

Cars in the program currently include two Ford F-150 Lightning trucks, but the RM is looking at getting electric vans and SUVs as well.

“Part of what we’re looking at is just the cost and the budget of how many vehicles we can get with the funding we have available to us,” said Faucher, adding the program is a great way for people to try out the electric vehicles before purchasing an electric vehicle themselves.

“It’s part of an overall – I’ll call it (green) objective for everyone. The EVs are much cleaner than the gas vehicles so it’s a really an opportunity for us to do our part towards those (green) objectives.”