GM's Maven car-sharing service coming to Kitchener

[tomh009]

Kitchener was confirmed as the first Canadian city for GM's new Maven car-sharing service, as the city council has approved the use of five parking spaces at King & Water for the service.  

http://www.autonews.com/article/20161206...chener-ont

GM and Communitech announced a joint "innovation research zone" a year ago.

[MidTowner]

It's fantastic that Kitchener will be the first in the country for GM's service.

I wonder how it will affect Community Car Share. Hopefully a bit of competition will put downward pressure on rates.

[Canard]

How is this system different or better than other car-sharing services?

When I read the headline I got excited it was something self-driving or really high tech, but I don't see what the big deal is. What am I missing?

[taylortbb]

I think the big differences vs Community Car Share will be: the vehicles are more premium (things like leather interiors), some cities suport one-way rentals, and rates are per hour with included mileage.

It's not radically different. It's just GM wanting a piece of the car sharing market for themselves.

[mpd618]

It seems like GM might also be using it to try out some technologies.

[Canard]

Wouldn't Car-2-Go have been a bigger victory?

[Square]

I would love if Tesla had a car sharing service in this area!

[taylortbb]

I agree Car-2-Go would have been, but I think this was initiated by GM, not the city.

[MidTowner]

car2go would probably be better, yes. One doesn't preclude the other, and Maven opening up shop here might even make car2go consider KW in a future expansion. I don't see how Maven coming here can be anything but a good thing, and it's a good sign that their first experiment in the Canadian market is here.

[tomh009]

car2go would probably be better, yes. One doesn't preclude the other, and Maven opening up shop here might even make car2go consider KW in a future expansion. I don't see how Maven coming here can be anything but a good thing, and it's a good sign that their first experiment in the Canadian market is here.

Exactly.  Choice is good.  And I think this will be more upmarket (and likely more expensive) than CCS so there should not be too much conflict. 

Car2go would be good, too but again it's not the same thing as either CCS or Maven (I believe Car2go is using primarily Smarts).  I think Car2go is more expensive, but it is based on one-way rentals, which works better in a big city with a large core (getting cars dropped off in various suburbs does not work as well as they may not be the same suburbs as the potential drivers).  Maybe we'll see them here in the future, too, though.

Maven is offering normal cars today (Volt, Cruze, Malibu, Regal, ATS etc), but GM's intent is to get to driverless in the future, same as the other manufacturers.  That won't be for quite some time, though.

[Pheidippides]

I don't see how Maven coming here can be anything but a good thing, 

Until they discount their offerings with their deep pockets, price CCS out, and then fold on the venture in 2 years time leaving us with zero car sharing options not more.

[tomh009]

Sure, anything could happen. But I don't think GM will set their Canadian price levels just to drive CCS out of business. In the US they charge US$8/hour, I would expect C$10-11/hour here, substantially more than CCS. And only one location for now, CCS has cars all over the region.

I expect that we'll have half a dozen or so car-sharing options within five years.

[Canard]

Whoah, Community Car Share is more than $11/hr?? That's insane.

[jeremyroman]

No, it's well under $10/hr, depending on the plan: http://communitycarshare.ca/our-rates/

[Canard]

...I can't read.