Hop around the city

Self-service car share is an innovative concept that brings you the convenience of hiring a car by the hour for just a few dollars.

It’s caught on well in some of the biggest metropolises in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia, where most people commute to work using public transport and who often need access to a vehicle at short notice to get to appointments, run errands or even for emergencies.

Cityhop launched New Zealand’s first such service in Auckland last month.

The company has started off with a fleet of some 15 white-and-green Daihatsu Sirion cars parked at several of Auckland City Council’s car parks in the CBD area.

Once you sign up for the service, you can book your car online and choose where you would like to pick it up. On receiving a confirmation, you simply walk to the car park and drive off. 

New communication and global positioning technologies help both members and the company to use the service efficiently. Armed with smart cards, members can access cars without keys as also top up fuel, which incidentally, is paid for by the company.

“For an all-inclusive cost of just $12 an hour and minus the hassle of driving to work and expensive parking, Cityhop offers a cost-effective alternative to workplace travel,” said Cityhop chief executive Victoria Carter.

A number of Auckland firms are putting together workplace travel plans, according to Victoria and staff feedback a lack of ‘emergency wheels’ for when they need to rush home or go to an appointment.

“Now that cityhop fills that gap more people may feel public transport is a viable option,” she said.

Business to Business spoke with Victoria just about a week after the launch to find out how the service was catching on. 

How has the response been?

“We’re really pleased with the level of interest and have had over a dozen people sign up. We are talking to a number of firms about how they can reduce their taxi bills, pool car efficiencies, support their staff who use public transport and so on.