Organic Islands Festival and Sustainability Expo 2010

VCSC at the Organic Islands Festival. Only July 10th and 11th, the Victoria Car Share and volunteers will be attending the Organic Islands Festival. We will be showcasing our brand new Nissan Cube at the festival, conducting community outreach, and recruiting new members. Drop by our tent to say hello or enter draws for fantastic prizes. We also have volunteer openings.

Summer Holiday Travel Trips
Summer is here and many members plan to use car share vehicles for their summer vacations. Please keep these tips in mind when planning and taking your summer vacation:

• Book ahead of time: avoid disappointment and reserve your car early.
• Our Fernwood Yaris has Thule roof racks for bikes and kayaks. Our trucks, MPV, and Cube can accommodate bicycles.
• Compare our rates to a rental for the best price. If you drive more than 200km's, sometimes a rental is cheaper. Keep in mind that our rates include fuel and insurance, rental companies rates do not.
• Save money and carbon: consider a "stay-cation" here in beautiful B.C. Why not take a couple island trips or enjoy trips using car shares in Vancouver, Nelson, Smithers, and Duncan?
• Plan your long trips with ample driving time: driving slow saves fuel, reduces emissions, and decreases the chance of accidents
• Always check tire pressure for long trips (using the tire guage supplied in the trunk-located utility box), check the manual or door tags for air pressure specifications (usually 30-35PSI).

Car Sharing and HST
July 1st marks the beginning of HST in B.C. Your car share rates will not be effected as we already charge PST. We will be combining your PST and GST into one 12% HST rate for trips in July. The Personal Vehicle Rental Tax (or PVRT, charged at $1.50/day on trips longer than 8.5 hours) is disappearing. Overall, the organization will be saving money with the introduction of HST business tax credits.

On Car Bike Racks
We are adding on-car bike racks to our Fairfield Cube and Fernwood Rio! These rack systems can accommodate three bikes. Manuals for using these bike racks will be placed in the vehicle utility kits. Please ensure that you fold the racks back down after use. We will be adding racks to other vehicles very soon. Please contact us to let us know where you would like to see more bike racks.

Board Meeting and Open House
Our monthly open house is taking place on Thursday, July 22nd from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. Join us as we share refreshments and talk about car sharing. Our board meeting follows, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm and all members are welcome to attend.

Rate Review
We want to introduce new rates at our Annual General Meeting in Fall of 2010. If any member has special expertise in economics and/or data analysis, we would appreciate hearing from you!

Forward this message to a friend