This is what Managing Director Tom Sogaard said in Gjøvik and the surrounding area Boligbyggelag (GOBB) in a press release.
He says he is proud that GOBB is the first to bring forward a “green” car participation in Gjøvik.
For those of us who run a housing association, sharing is nothing new. We’ve been doing this since 1945. The whole idea behind a co-op is precisely sharing, and for people who live in a housing association, sharing is absolutely normal. The entire community is built on participation, Søgård says, and points out that they have spearheaded economic and social sustainability for many decades.
keyless
– In this sense, it is only natural that we think of sharing when it comes to cars as well, says Søgård.
GOBB has entered into an agreement with Move About, which owns the entire car sharing system. For customers, it’s about downloading an app, registering, finding a free car, and driving.
– This is keyless and simple, says Søgård, who explains that they will initially start with three cars centered around Gjøvik.
– We have a partnership with NTNU and put a car on campus. We have a car in Bryggevegen across the street from McDonalds and we have a car in Mustadhagen. At each location there is a separate car shipment point, and you both collect and drop off the car at the same location, he says.
Anyone can rent the cars and they are all fully electric cars. However, GOBB’s approximately 11,000 members have the advantage of getting cheaper rent.
After Søgård’s remarks, OA was made aware that Getaround (formerly Nabobil) had offered to share the car at Gjøvik for several years.
Expensive car number two
Govik Municipality Mayor Carrie Sullian said in the press release that she is very happy to have such a car-sharing service in the city.
– This is good in many ways. Experiences from other cities with such car sharing show that for every car that can be shared, the parking lot is reduced by about 15 cars. Many people realize that owning a second car is expensive and that in many cases it goes largely unused. Then there are many who ditch it and rent a car for shorter periods and when you really need it, Sullian says.
– It is of course good for the environment, but also good for covering parking lots. As you know, it’s always a problem and if we can reduce the number of cars by adding more parts, the pressure on parking spaces will decrease in the long run. So we welcome that, says Solyan.
GOBB cars arriving now can only be rented for 1 hour or for longer periods.
Søgård also says that car sharing in connection with new construction projects is coming.
– The authorities are now including this in the regulations when building larger residential areas. An example of this is Bundelia Haig where we will create a separate car-sharing scheme for residents when the first block is completed, says Søgård.
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