An amazing environmental movement is happening in Philadelphia. Thousands of Philadelphians – a near-record 1,100 during last month alone – are trading in car ownership for PhillyCarShare, walking, biking, and public transit. PhillyCarShare members, after joining the service, report driving 53% fewer miles, consuming nearly 500,000 fewer gallons of gas, and saving $16 million annually – money that gets reinvested into Philadelphia’s local economy. Plus more than half report reducing their car ownership.

While PhillyCarShare’s direct impacts are impressive, just as significant is the story of innovation and modest beginnings that made them possible in our City of “Firsts”. PhillyCarShare therefore nominates both itself and Philadelphia – for creating amazing success entirely locally, for demonstrating how a market-driven solution can ignite positive environmental change, and for embracing innovation to establish one of the most exciting environmental movements on the planet.

In a city known well for its many “firsts” but not for its pretension, PhillyCarShare and Philadelphia demonstrate the innovation and under-publicized achievement for which the Philadelphia Sustainability Awards were conceived.

PhillyCarShare, a non-profit organization, was launched in November 2002, with a mission to reduce automobile dependence in the Philadelphia region – and the associated pollution, economic burdens, and land consumption. The premise was simple: automobiles, while necessary in our society, are abundantly overused because they are priced inappropriately. If we simply rearrange the costs, we can reduce their use. Moreover, if the solution saves people money and feels equally convenient to owning a car, it can be driven by the market.

Economics are a powerful force driving automobiles. Consider: it is impossible to own 0.1 car or 1.5 cars. To be fully functioning members of our society, we tend to “round up”. Once a car is owned, however, its costs become 90% “sunk” and unrelated to miles driven. A 10-mile roundtrip, for example, costs $2.60 with SEPTA but only 98 cents in gas. Driving seems cheap on the margin. Thus, car owners rationally choose to drive almost all the time.

Alternatively, what if cars were virtually free to access but expensive to drive? What if owning cost $0, while gas cost $15 per gallon? We could expect massive changes in travel behavior. People probably would drive much less, choosing more often to walk, bike, and take transit. Five local Philadelphians, all volunteers, set out to prove this concept in November 2002. With nine members, two cars – a hybrid Prius and Matrix wagon – and the modest $25,000 they personally contributed, they set out to reduce automobile dependence citywide. The founders envisioned competing with auto ownership: low-emission vehicles on every block, available by the hour, to members with personal electronic keys and 24-hour access.

During the first year, the volunteer founders washed the cars, executed the outreach, developed the technology, and balanced the books. After 12 months, the results seemed astounding: 535 members, sharing 13 environmentally-friendly cars, had given up 270 personal vehicles; each shared car had replaced an average of 23 occasionally-driven vehicles. Philadelphia was the first U.S. city to establish these dramatic car-ownership impacts, proving the concept could work outside of Europe.

Each subsequent year brought car sharing innovation to a new level in Philadelphia. In April 2004, the City of Philadelphia itself opted in, becoming the first government worldwide to share cars with local residents in a major fleet reduction effort. The pioneering project helped replace 330 municipal vehicles, saving taxpayers $5 million. Progressive Berkeley, Portland (Oregon), and Minneapolis soon followed Philadelphia’s lead.

That same year, PhillyCarShare achieved financial sustainability, meaning revenues from the carsharing system covered 100% of operating costs. This achievement also was a “first” in the U.S. and marked a major milestone for the maturing organization.

Because in a market-driven solution, commitment to the customer is very important to achieving environmental benefits, PhillyCarShare focused on service innovations during 2005-2006. We innovated to become either first in the U.S. or first in the world to offer totally free memberships (September 2006), eligibility to all 18-year-olds (July 2006), child seats for urban families (February 2006), and a debit billing system that enabled even the lowest-income households to join (September 2005). We also deployed the densest car-sharing network in North America (2006), with car-sharing pods on literally every block or two of Center City – closer to car owners than they could park their own vehicles on-street. Finally, PhillyCarShare also deployed the lowest-emission fleet of any large car-sharing system in North America, with 60% of its vehicles comprising hybrids.

The innovations paid off. In 2006, Philadelphia became the fastest-growing car-sharing city on the planet. A member survey, conducted in June 2006, revealed the following impacts. (1)

• 2,070 fewer vehicles – members literally sold or avoided the purchase of this many cars, in favor of PhillyCarShare.
• 1.2 million miles driven in hybrids
• 9.9 million fewer miles driven overall (130 fewer miles per month per member)
• 440,000 gallons of gas saved
• Significantly greater use of walking, biking, transit
• $8.8 million saved annually by former car owners – money that gets reinvested largely into Philadelphia’s economy rather than flowing into the global auto industry
• 80% of members favoring residential locations near PhillyCarShare pods
• 95% reduced auto emissions among members, from driving hybrids, driving less, and making fewer “cold starts” as the vehicle remains warm from a previous user

Meanwhile, Philadelphia also has embraced PhillyCarShare as an integrated part of the transportation system. For example, Philadelphia Style Magazine’s current issue highlights PhillyCarShare alongside SEPTA, biking, and walking, as green transportation alternatives.

Philadelphia and PhillyCarShare are demonstrating how a market-driven solution can benefit the environment, the economy, and personal utility. They also demonstrate how a large city can embrace the innovation of a few of its own residents, to create an environmental movement. We believe that a Philadelphia Sustainability Award could highlight these exciting accomplishments, to attract additional support and inspire similar new projects.

We love Philadelphia. We want our city to thrive. And we are committed to making Philadelphia a model for sustainable living. We are proud that PhillyCarShare is successfully making our city less about cars and more about people.

(1) Since the survey period, membership has tripled, ostensibly extending the impacts.