Parking woes for Montreals new car-sharing service

Officials of Montreals new car sharing program, car2go, are finding its vehicles illegally parked around the city and are left to pay the parking tickets.

The new one-way car-sharing program launched on Nov. 2 in Montreal.

Its the beginning. People need to get used to the system,- JeremiLavoie, Location Manager forcar2goMontreal

It works similar to Bixi, the citys bike-sharing program.

People register for the service, and can take out any of the 250 Smart cars for a one-way trip.

Once members arrive at their destination, they park the vehicle which is proving to be a challenge.

A learning process

Officials at car2go Montreal say its parking rules vary, and members are not familiar with them yet.

Its the beginning. People need to get used to the system. It will take some time but its okay its part of the learning process, said car2goMontreal's location manager JeremiLavoie, who could not give an exact figure as to how many parking tickets hes seen so far.

The program already exists in two dozen cities around the world, including Toronto, Washington, Seattle, and London.

Lavoie said that in all thecities where car2go exists, parking tickets were common after the programs launch.

It's a totally new concept. Not everyone has heard of it. It takes some time for people to become familiarized with it."

For now, car2go vehicles in Montreal are only available in the boroughs of RosemontLa-Petite-Patrie, the Plateau or in Cte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grce.

Members can park on any residential street in those neighbourhoods as long as there is no parking restriction within 24 hours.

There are also six parking lots downtown, each with six reserved spots for car2go vehicles.

car2go foots the bill...for now

Normally, if a car2go vehicle is slapped with a parking ticket, it is up to the last driver to pay the fine.

However Lavoie says that, for now, car2go is paying all the parking tickets to give new members a chance to become more familiar with the rules.

In the future, car2go officials in Montreal hope to do whats been done in other cities negotiate a deal with the city where car2go cars are allowed to be in any metered spot free of charge, at all times.