The Wolf Leaves the Pack

The Wolf (Ford F-150) has finally decided to call it quits. He's been by our side for almost 4 years with over 1400 reservations and over 4500 hours of use!

We originally purchased him thanks to a gift from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, allowing us to extend discounts on the truck to non-profit members.

We very much hope to replace the truck soon, but we are not sure when that will be. We will definitely keep you updated.

If you want to help us in purchasing a new truck here is how:

 * You can write us a sharemonial, a story of how having access to a truck has helped or changed your life. Sharemonials may help us in obtaining a new truck from a Foundation.

 * You can give a gift membership to a friend or loved one.

 * You can invest in a lifetime membership for $500.

 * You can donate us a truck or car. We are a non-profit (501c3), so a donation can be considered a tax deductible donation.

For more information on donating, please go to http://donate.buffalocarshare.org.

SuperStar Member of the Month—Aaron Krolikowski

Interview by Jennifer White (PR and Marketing Associate at BCS)

Jen: Can you give us a quick background of yourself? 

Aaron: I was born in South Buffalo and grew up on the border of ski country and the Southtowns in Glenwood. I'm one of five kids and had to learn about the value of sharing and cooperation from an early age. I moved to Europe in 2009 for my grad school and to pursue a PhD, but moved back to Buffalo and into University Heights a little over a year ago. Life in Europe was great because I didn't have a car, I lost a ton of weight, and I really learned how to use public transit. When I moved back I wanted to see if I could live without owning a car. It's been working out pretty well so far. 

Jen: Tell us a little about your education and your job, what you do at the Tool Library.

Aaron: I studied political science and environmental studies at UB as an undergrad. After my time in the SUNY system, I was fortunate to win a Clarendon Scholarship for grad school. I was at the University of Oxford for a while, where I completed a Masters Degree in Development Studies and a PhD in Geography. This period of my life took me to a lot of very different places, where I was able to observe and learn how different cities valued cars, public transit, bicycling, and walking. I visited and/or lived in the UK, Tanzania, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, Kenya, Qatar, and Austria (to name a few). Everywhere I went, I was thinking "What can Buffalo learn from this?" After moving back to the region, I started a job as Director of Research and Public Policy with United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.  Outside of work, I spend a lot of time working with the University Heights Tool Library, where I help staff the tool lending library and organize service events and activities that support community change. 

Jen: Please tell us about how the Tool Library helps the University Heights Community?

Aaron: The University Heights Tool Library (UHTL) is a community service of the University Heights Collaborative (that's the umbrella organization that supports the work of the block clubs, the farmer's market, the garden walk, etc). It's a tool lending library and is similar to a public library, but instead of lending out books, people can take out hammers, saws, and lawn mowers. We provide students, renters, homeowners, and others with the tools they need to work on their homes, parks, and other public spaces.  The UHTL has also been active in providing service opportunities for UB students and residents to work side by side on neighborhood improvement. Last year we worked on tree plantings, park cleanups, graffiti removal, and street art in the neighborhood.

Jen: How can people get involved with the UHTL?

Aaron: If you're interested in volunteering, you can go to our volunteer page. If you're interested in becoming a member, you can go to membership page. It's a $10 annual membership fee, and you need a piece of mail to verify residency, a photo ID, and two references.

Jen: Why did you decide to become a CarShare member and what do you use it for?

Aaron: I decided to become a CarShare member when I moved back, but wasn't able to enroll until this winter. When I started my job with United Way, I wanted to make sure I had transportation to the suburbs if I needed it. As I mentioned, I do most of my traveling via bike, bus, and train—Buffalo CarShare is the best complement to that. I have access to a car whenever I need one, but I don't have to worry about insurance, gas, maintenance, or payments. I save a significant amount of money that way. Beyond the occasional job-related travel, I typically use CarShare to get to my grandparents' home in West Seneca for Sunday dinners.

Jen: What do you for fun!?

Aaron: When the weather is nice, Buffalo is synonymous with fun. There is never a lack of activity when the sun is shining and Olmsted's parkways are calling me and my bike. In the winter, I've been spending a lot of time at some of the newer haunts around the city: The Lobby Bar at the Statler, Blue Monk Gypsy Parlor, Providence Social, Shango, etc. Beyond these, I think I'm like many other Buffalonians my age...I spend a *lot* of time exploring the area, finding old buildings, churches, industrial sites. There are some really incredible things that seem to have been lost to history.

Be Part of Buffalo BikeShare!

Coordinator Needed

Spring is almost here and Buffalo BikeShare is searching for a hands-on coordinator to run this nationally recognized BikeSharing program. Partnering with UB and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Buffalo BikeShare provides the Buffalo community with a unique shared transportation option using “smart” bicycles; whether for exercise, pleasure, or just for simple, environmentally friendly transportation, BikeShare can get you there conveniently and affordably.

If you want to be part of this cutting edge initiative, and have a “can do!” attitude, please submit your resume with cover letter to Lisa@tripletrackhrpartners.com for consideration. Please note your experience with bicycle building, repair, sales, and/or maintenance in your cover letter and/or on your resume. 25-30 hours / week to start, but may evolve into a FT role. $12.50/hour. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

If they can do it in Lawrence, Kansas...

You may (or may not) remember Lawrence from the 80's TV movie The Day After. Although the city has grown in recent decades to almost 90,000 residents, it still has the feel of small town America.

A few months ago, Hertz announced that it was expanding it's car sharing services to Downtown Lawrence. The Hertz On Demand service features four cars at the nearby University of Kansas. After a few years of operations at KU, the company moved forward with the City to place one car off campus for city residents.

We scratch our heads a little about this here at Buffalo CarShare. Certainly there's a market, or a multinational corporation like Hertz wouldn't be moving off campus, but one car? Our research shows that we define "market" a bit more broadly than the rest of the industry. We don't know Lawrence, Kansas very well, but we're guessing there are more than a handful of city residents that could really benefit from a car sharing program.

The same pattern is also emerging in larger cities like Cincinnati - Zipcar just added three hubs downtown. Cincinnati is about the size of Buffalo, and their Mayor touted the potential benefits of the service, namely to "provide access for people who would otherwise not be able to go about their day-to-day activities". We're curious to know how it's going!

This is the idea behind our Startup Symposium on Tuesday, August 6th in Niagara Falls. 
We'll be talking a bit about our model, which is aimed at serving a broad range of households in terms of income, race, and age. We'll also be comparing notes with other car sharing organizations from small and mid-sized cities, such as Ithaca CarShare in the Finger Lakes region of New York and Community CarShare in Southern Ontario.

You can find the full agenda here. Session topics include:

• Choosing a business model
• Growing your organization
• Gaining "anchor institution" and community support
• Identifying funding sources
• Developing college and university partnerships

The Symposium is aimed at communities like Rochester and Albany, among others, that are considering or working to launch car sharing operations in their cities. The Symposium is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP to j.reichert@buffalocarshare.org by Thursday, August 1st.

We'll also be giving demonstrations of our BikeShare program throughout the day. We hope you can join us!

NY-grown Social Bikes system launches quietly in Buffalo

System featuring innovative GPS-based "smart bikes" launches ahead of Manhattan's massive CitiBike network.

In early April, we opened the doors on our fledgling BikeShare network at the University at Buffalo with 25 bicycles available to students, faculty, and staff. Over the summer, the fleet will grow to a 75-bike system to be tested in a variety of urban settings, with ambitions for a larger-scale system in 2014. Starting this week, we opened membership up to all CarShare members and to employees of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Additional locations beyond the University at Buffalo will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

The main highlight of the technology developed by NYC-based Social Bicycles is that locking, tracking, and communications functions are all embedded within the frame of the bicycle. This so-called "smart bike" technology comes at a fraction of the costs and size of more bulky kiosk-based systems.

While Buffalo might not be the first city that comes to mind for startup culture, we can claim a number of "firsts":

• First joint Car and Bicycle sharing system in the US
• First urban deployment of a kiosk-less GPS-based bikeshare system
• First major BikeShare deployment in a "Rust Belt" city

Creighton Randall, Executive Director of Buffalo CarShare explains the approach being taken "we are slowly scaling up this system and sending feedback to the Social Bicycles team. There are always some risks and challenges with innovation, but we're comfortable learning and adopting new technologies and processes in order to bring a new bikeshare system to Buffalo. And we're lucky that we have partners like the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and University at Buffalo that value innovation and are willing to be the first to pilot this technology with us." UB is one of only a few universities in the nation with a high-tech bikeshare system, and the only one featuring smart-bike technology. "We also have a loyal membership base that is up to the task as well," continued Randall.

Another ambition of the Buffalo BikeShare system to serve a diverse population of members. The non-profit leads the car sharing industry in service to low-income residents and people of color, and much attention has been paid to public bikeshare systems' struggles with the issue of equity. For this and other reasons, Buffalo makes for a "perfect real-world laboratory" says Social Bicycles CEO Ryan Rzepecki "you have a city ripe for innovation and experimentation, a group of committed individuals with ready access to a network of users, and the right partners on board to provide seed funding". The 75-bike pilot project is made possible by a unique partnership between two New York State agencies, NYSERDA and NYSDOT, who have been funding similar research and development projects for several years. The agencies are providing $142,855 towards the project, and also provided funding for the launch of the CarShare program in 2009, which continues to grown on its own and now features 15 vehicles and 600 members.

CarShare members and BNMC employees can sign up here

Announcing ScooterShare

Buffalo CarShare announces the launch of ScooterShare

ScooterShare fleet readies for launch

Are you one of the many who longs for the breeze in your face, the occasional bug in your smile, and an excuse to buy a brightly-colored vintage helmet? Fear not, your days of waiting are over.

Buffalo CarShare (BCS) is proud to announce that we are testing a fleet of scooters, which will soon be introduced into our fleet. The scooters will not be owned by BCS, but will be lent out from neighbor-to-neighbor. This first-of-its-kind concept started thanks to a large fleet of scooters owned by Mark Legaza. A range of scooters, vespas, and other mopeds will be available.

Mark Legaza, owner of scooter armada

"I've got way more scooters than I need!" said Legaza. The surplus scooters will be made available to all current BCS members. Non-members can have access to the service for a nominal fee. They can be reserved by the minute for 10 cents per minute. According to BCS Board Chair, Todd Salansky, this will encourage members to be more efficient with their reservations. "I saw one of our beta testers straight arm an old lady in the produce section at the Co-Op to get to the checkout, so it needs to be tweaked a little bit but this is what innovation looks like, right?"


Creighton Randall, BCS Executive Director has high hopes for ScooterShare. "We actually had to refinance half the fleet to get this going, but I figure that we'll be swapping out cars with scooters in no time, so it seemed like a sound investment." Randall reports the up and coming BikeShare system will soon be entirely replaced with scooters.

Jason Wilson and Bernice Radle, the first official members

Randall invites all members to sign up today to become members. Jason Wilson and Bernice Radle, the first official beta testers of the system, have nothing but good things to say about the service. "We were super excited to hear that the bikes integrate with the BCS key fob system. Now I just see a scooter, hop on and leave it wherever. I thought at first that the owners would care where they were returned to, but I guess they just eventually make their way back. Like cats." states Bernice. "Jason even got a tattoo with the new ScooterShare logo, so our membership is free for life!"

Scooter tattoos guarantee lifetime membership

Mr. Randall confirmed the tattoo discount, and as to the feline analogy, stated "Ms. Radle brings up a great point. We thought about placing GPS units on the scooters, but it was going to get pretty expensive. Then one of our staff members brought up cats, and we were like 'problem solved!'"

Join Bernice and Jason in becoming the one of the first to try out this revolutionary peer-to-peer ScooterShare today!

CarShare celebrates the end of a strong 2010

It's hard to believe we've come this far, but we're happy to report that Buffalo CarShare is now over 300 members strong. With 10 cars and a pickup truck, we're well on our way to becoming a staple in this fair city.

Looking forward to an exciting 2011, we wanted to drop a few hints of what's to come and reflect on this year's success. We hope you'll join us at our 2nd Annual Winter Banquet tomorrow (12/17) to hear more (details at the end of this post).

Looking back at 2010:

• We were able to purchase a Ford F-150 pickup truck thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. This truck is available to non-profit organizations like the Massachusetts Avenue Project and the YWCA, which use it for everything from loading up compost to moving furniture (although not at the same time). Thanks to this grant, 12 non-profits organizations have been able to expand their good work without taking on the burden of purchasing their own truck - instead they share one.

• While we bid for rights to operate on UB North and South Campus, it wasn't in the cards. Luckily, we found a good neighbor in Canisius College, who shares our vision for a service that meets the needs of both the campus and community. To date, 15 students, faculty and staff and 11 Hamlin Park residents now utilize the car parked at Jefferson and Delavan. We hope to expand this program in the Spring.

• We also launched three more cars this summer, bringing our fleet to 11, including another Yaris, a Toyota Prius hybrid, and a Mazda 5 Minivan. Our membership has grown to over 300 in just 18 months, and we're happy to report (based on a Feb. 2010 survey) that we have arguably the most diverse member base of any car sharing organization in the nation, in terms of age, race, and income. This member base was also able to considerably reduce their environmental footprint. We're committed to a vision for affordable, community-based green transportation that works for just about everyone - see all of the hubs.

Looking ahead to 2011, we hope to do a few things:

• Expand college partnerships. While we grow to meet demand from new members, we hope to work with area colleges to become an option for students looking to minimize the cost of a college education.
• Increase services to businesses and non profits. We expect demand to continue to increase for our truck, but also see potential for downtown businesses that are exploring ways to help "green" their workforce. In addition, there are a plethora of small non-profit organizations in need of a truck or van from time to time. We hope to add these “specialty” vehicles as demand grows.
• Develop a partnership with BNMC and Green Options Buffalo, including creation of a city-wide bicycle sharing system (think Buffalo Blue Bicycle 2.0). Our vision is that CarShare and bike share could integrated into one seamless system.
• Grow our service to reflect diversity of neighborhoods in which we operate, not just diversity among our membership base. The Lower West Side, Kensington-Bailey, and North Buffalo are all neighborhoods where expansion may soon be viable.

While we may not accomplish everything on this list in the next 12 months, we will press ahead on all points. If you're looking to get involved, we're always in need of volunteers and are recruiting for spring internships. We're also seeking partners to help us expand to new neighborhoods when it gets a little warmer. Give us a ring or an email, we'd love to hear from you.

Lastly, we hope to see you at our banquet Friday night! Join us for drinks at 6pm if you can't stay for dinner.

CarShare Winter Banquet - Presented by Northtown Automotive

When: Friday (12/17)
Where: The Eights (888 Main Street)
Happy Hour: 6pm - 7:30; $3 drafts, $4 wine - donations encouraged
Dinner (really more like a feast): 7:30 - 10; $20 for members, $30 for non-members (tickets required)

Dishes will include Vegan Pad Thai, Eggplant Parmesan, Enchiladas, Roasted Turkey, and much more!

Come on by to learn more and meet our staff and members. If you'd like to stay for dinner, please reserve your ticket by calling us at 898-0850.