How Does Carsharing Work? It's simple:

• We have fleet locations throughout Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and Hamilton, with more to come, permitting members to reserve cars close to where they live and/or work.
• Members can make vehicle reservations 24/7 by using our convenient online reservation system or with a simple phone call to our reservation line. (Click here for a sample viewing of the online reservation system.)
• Vehicle reservations can be for as little as an hour at a time or for as long as you need.
• When a reservation is made, the member picks up the reserved car (using her/his vehicle access key) at the preferred fleet location and brings it back at the agreed time.
• Since members have self-serve access to all our vehicles, there is no need to come to our office whenever a vehicle is reserved, cancelled, or extended.
• Trip logs record the time and distance travelled for each member so that members are billed monthly.
• All rates include gas, maintenance, and repairs.
• On longer trips, members get a reduced rate.
• Note: Grand River CarShare and Hamilton CarShare are not "carpooling" but rather "carsharing". As such, each member has exclusive use of a car during her/his reserved period.
• Incorporated as a not-for-profit co-operative, the co-operative is administered by staff as well as a volunteer elected Board of Directors answerable to members.
• As our membership expands, more vehicles will be placed in new neighbourhoods across our service area, which has a population over 1 million people. If you want to bring carsharing to your neighbourhood or community, just let us know!

Watch this CBC News video for further explanation of how carsharing works:

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