Written by Ryan Law, Business Development Officer
As cities grow and densify, it has become increasingly important to make smarter sustainable transportation investments that complement the growth of condos being built without minimum parking requirements. According to a report of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, sometimes one-third of parking stalls are left unsold in new buildings and therefore more developers are no longer building layers of underground parking. The construction cost is also very expensive for a number of reasons, and can add to the cost of a unit by 4% to 10.5%.
Of course, the lack of available parking often raises the concern about how people will get around without a private vehicle. While there are public transport and non-vehicular options such as cycling or walking infrastructure, this blog post explores two vehicle options that enable people to get access to vehicles without having to own one: ride hailing like Uber/Lyft and car sharing.
Difference between Car-Share and Ride-Hailing
Most people understand ride hailing because they’ve either taken a taxi, Uber or Lyft. Ride-hailing connects passengers with drivers through an app for one-way trips. The pricing is dynamic, which varies based on demand, time, and distance—especially during surge periods. Ride-sharing is often used to refer Uber/Lyft but that actually refers to when rides are shared such as UberX Share.
Car-sharing, on the other hand, is often less well known. Unlike car rentals which are designed for longer trips (i.e., road trips), car-share vehicles are placed at strategic locations such as parking garages of condominiums and anyone who has an account and an app can rent them for short periods of time, usually by hour, with gas, insurance, and maintenance included in the rental fee. Most car-share companies require that the vehicles are returned to their original location but some companies like Communauto allow drivers to drop off the vehicle anywhere within a particular geographic area, which is great for one-way trips or when there’s a need for paid parking.
While ride-hailing is convenient for spontaneous or late-night travel, car-sharing is best for planned, multi-stop, or cargo-heavy trips, like grocery runs or weekend outings. While last-minute car-share rentals are available depending on the provider, ride-hailing is often best for these last-minute or emergency trips you may have.
It should also be noted that car-share requires that the user has a drivers license while ride hailing is available to everyone who can pay for this service.
The economics of ride-hailing and car-share
If you have your driver’s license then, what service do you choose? When is it more affordable to rent a car-share instead of ride-hailing?
While ride hailing and car-share are more affordable options than owning a vehicle after factoring in ownership and operating costs, depending on the type of trip, there are circumstances under which car-share may make more sense. Below we outline the cost for each trip, assuming that each trip type is done four times a month.
| Trip Type | Car-Share (Communauto) | Ride-Hail (Uber/Lyft) |
| Quick grocery run to No Frills (1 hour, ~2 km) | ~$12.30 | ~$20 |
| Weekly shop to Costco (3 hours plus travel, ~6 km) | $23.70 | $32-$36 |
| Weekend day trip from downtown Toronto to Burlington (8 hours, 60 km) | ~$68.50 | ~$160 |
Note: The above costs are based on average Toronto roundtrip costs and assumes a ‘Value Extra’ Communauto monthly plan.
Car-share providers offer different plans depending on frequency of usage. If someone had no paid car-share membership or had a paid one that but only used it fewer than 4 times a month, there is no difference in pricing between ride-hailing and car-share for the quick grocery run or the Costco shopping trip. For the weekend trip, car-share is always more affordable no matter the membership plan.
To read more about which car-share to choose, please read our blog post about this.
The Bigger Picture: Reducing the need for private vehicles
From a city-building perspective, one of the main goals is to reduce car dependency and single-occupancy vehicle use by improving the user experience of sustainable options, whether that’s transit, cycling, or shared mobility like car-share or ride-hailing. It means maximizing the number of options that people have so that they do not have to rely on owning a private vehicle to get around.
Both car-share and ride-hailing, depending on the circumstances, can eliminate the need to own a private vehicle. Uber recently conducted its own One Car Less Challenge and its Canada and US results found that people need reliable access to four other modes of transportation to replace their vehicle. Similarly, research from Great Britain showed that in urban areas like London where alternative forms of transportation are available, ride-hailing can replace private vehicle ownership.
Car-share research is more compelling. Research consistently shows that households joining car-share services often sell existing vehicles or forgo planned vehicle purchases. For instance, a notable study found that average vehicle ownership in car-sharing households dropped from 0.47 to 0.24 vehicles per household, with 80% of these households becoming carless. Other research indicates that each a car-share vehicle can remove up to 15 personally-owned vehicles from the road. This reduction in car ownership translates directly into lower parking demand in residential developments and urban areas.
Building Sustainability Cities
It is vital to develop cities that prioritize a safe, accessible, and multimodal network that doesn’t rely on every household owning a car. The goal is to enable residents to live car-light lifestyles without compromising convenience.
With access to walking, cycling, transit, and on-site car-share, residents can benefit from the four core travel modes needed to confidently reduce (or eliminate) car ownership. That’s not just good planning—it’s smart economics and climate action.
Final Thoughts
Not owning a vehicle should not be a barrier to choosing where one lives especially when ridehailing and car-sharing are available in addition to public transit, walking and cycling. Furthermore, affordable housing needs to also consider the cost of transportation, which is often the second largest expense after housing. Integrating the options for car-share into new developments and making it convenient for ride-hailing are two options that can significantly reduce one’s cost of living and are also better for our environment and quality of life.
