"SURRENDER YOUR PERMIT" PROGRAM RESULTS IN FEWER CARS ON HOBOKEN STREETS
Director of Transportation and Parking Ian Sacs announced today that as of last Monday, the recently implemented "Surrender Your Permit" (http://www.hobokennj.org/departments/transportation-parking/surrenderyourpermit/) program designed to encourage residents to live car-free reached its first milestone of 21 residents giving up their car and surrendering their parking permit. This means that more than half of the spaces reserved for Corner Cars are already accounted for in just a few short weeks' time. Since then several additional residents have also surrendered their permits.
As residents learn that using Corner Cars can cost $3,000 to $5,000 less than owning a car, the City is realizing fewer cars parked on-street, and those who need their car for daily commutes are enjoying the benefits of a less stressful hunt for a parking space. In addition, residents who move in to Hoboken are much less likely to bring a car with them thanks to the availability of Corner Cars.
"It might not be intuitive that adding car-sharing vehicles on our streets would make the parking situation better, but the results speak for themselves. I'm excited that residents are making the economic decision to sell their cars and eschew the burden of owning a car in Hoboken," said Transportation and Parking Director Ian Sacs. "If you don't commute by car every day, we make it easy and enjoyable to live without the hassle and high cost of owning a car. When you do need a car, our Corner Cars program provides cars for rent starting at $5/hour."
“Surrender Your Permit" and Corner Cars are part of the Zimmer Administration's strategy to address the parking problem by also reducing demand for parking instead of simply building more expensive structured parking and encouraging higher rates of car ownership. The programs have received considerable attention worldwide for their innovative approach to chronic urban parking and traffic concerns, including features in the New York Times, University of California Berkeley's Transportation Journal, Discovery Channel's Planet Green website, and the Urban Transportation Monitor, a highly respected industry journal. “I'm proud to support Corner Cars because it's more than just a creative solution to our parking and congestion problems – it’s also about giving all residents, regardless of income, access to the mobility they need,” said 4th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz. “I applaud Director Sacs for the success of the program in Southwest Hoboken and Mayor Zimmer for her initiative to sign up residents in the Housing Authority.”
A common concern about the Corner Cars program is that these cars, placed on-street for visibility and convenience, make it more difficult for residents to find parking. In fact, statistics for car-sharing programs both nationwide and in Hoboken consistently show the opposite. Based on nine years of car-sharing in Hoboken, statistics have shown that for each car-sharing vehicle available in Hoboken, more than 17 households choose to give up their car, and an additional 20 households postpone or choose not to buy a car due to the convenience of car-sharing. Not included in these statistics are the thousands of residents who move to Hoboken and choose to not bring a car with them because of the availability and convenience of car-sharing.
"Surrender Your Permit" is a complementary campaign designed to make the benefits of Hoboken's alternative transportation options evident by offering a host of incentives to residents who choose to give up their cars and surrender their permit to the Parking Utility. Residents in lease agreements with their cars may have to wait a few months before participating, but the program will continue so that the City can make it as easy as possible for residents to live car-free.
Link: http://www.hobokennj.org/news/surrender-your-permit-program-results-in-fewer-cars-on-hoboken-streets/ ◦
