City Wide Car Sharing Program Launched

The city became a little greener yesterday. Literally. 

Walking around the six wards of Hoboken, you'll see at least 42 spots that have been marked with green paint, which will be used for a new city-wide car sharing program. In cooperation with Connect by Hertz, Hoboken is the first city to launch this city-wide initiative. The total amount of share cars in the city in the coming six months will be 50. 

"It's a huge precedent for the rest of the country," said Director of Transportation and Parking Ian Sacs. 

The cars can be used for an hourly rate, with the cheapest (a smart car) being $5 an hour. 

Connect by Hertz is paying the city $125 per parking spot, said Griff Long, senior director of global carsharing at Connect by Hertz. He said also that Hoboken was picked to be the first city to launch this program, because of the high degree of cooperation by the city. 

Long said the goal is to get a thousand members in the next six months in Hoboken. "It's an aggressive target," Long said, but "we never had this kind of partnership."

Sacs said that, on average, 17 families give up their car per share car. This would mean that roughly 750 vehicles will be removed from the streets of Hoboken, which is supposed to help the city relieve some of its parking problems. 

"Parking in Hoboken is a real pain in the neck," said Mayor Dawn Zimmer during the official launch on Wednesday afternoon. "Trying to find a parking place is like playing musical chairs."

Shonta Alicea, who took the first drive in a Hertz share car with Zimmer on Wednesday afternoon, said she was excited about the program and would sign up.

Alicea, 31, said she used to have a car, but that she gave it up about two years ago because it got too expensive.

She praised the new program and said she'd use it to go grocery shopping, among other things.

"Especially for me, a single mother with two kids I support on my own," Alicea said, "this is way cheaper."