Residents of a planned upmarket apartment block development in Foxrock in south Dublin will able to avail of ‘pay as you go driving’ from five shared GoCar vehicles to be based at the address.
Last month, the Granville Partnership lodged plans with An Bord Pleanála for 142 build-to-rent apartments at Roselawn and Aberdour, Stillorgan Rd, Foxrock.
In order to reduce the car dependency of the residents living at the address, GoCar Carsharing Ltd has confirmed to the appeals board that it intends to provide five shared car club vehicles for the development.
The firm is Ireland’s leading car-sharing service with 40,000 members and 600 cars and vans across 18 counties.
CEO of the parent firm of GoCar, the Europcar Mobility Group, Colm Brady confirmed that GoCar is planning to locate its first GoCar in a new residential development this Summer arising from an agreement with a developer and as part of the planning process.
He said that 30 different builders have made contact with GoCar since the start of this year seeking letters of commitment from the firm to provide GoCars in their new residential developments.
Mr Brady stated: "We have had more developers wanting to have in place GoCars in their developments in the first quarter of this year than throughout the whole of 2018.
Mr Brady said that developers will be able to use the availability of a GoCar in the marketing of their new developments while it allows reduces the need to provide expensive and inefficient car-spaces for each apartment.
Mr Brady said that the likes of Dublin City Council encouraging car-sharing in new developments “is a game changer for us”.
Mr Brady said that 400 companies across the country are currently using GoCar’s fleet of cars.
He said that the firm has eight GoCars located around Barrow Street in Dublin's Silicon Docks to meet the demand of Google workers and other tech workers in that area.
Mr Brady said that GoCar has doubled each year for the past three years and it is his ambition to continue to double in size each year.
He said: The number of new people signing up to our service each month is frightening. We are hitting a sweet spot with customers.
He said: “The idea of car ownership has changed and people won’t need to own a car in the future.”
In a letter to An Bord Pleanála, GoCar’s Head of Growth, Rob Kearns stated that GoCar members can rent the cars from €4 for half an hour use, with fuel, insurance and maintenance included.
Mr Kearns has told the appeals board “each GoCar which is placed in a community has the potential to replace the journeys of up to 15 private cars”.
Mr Kearns has told the appeals board that “car-sharing is a sustainable service”.
He said: “By allowing multiple people to use the same vehicle at different times, car sharing reduces car ownership, car dependency, congestion, noise and air pollution.
It frees up land which would otherwise be used for additional parking spaces.
Mr Kearns said that GoCar has currently spaces reserved for GoCars in six developments in Dublin with management companies, but these agreements don't form part of any planning process.
