Community driven: Zipcar helps Parkmerced’s sustainable vision

 

The Highlights: 

• San Francisco’s Parkmerced neighborhood is one of the country’s leading communities when it comes to sustainable city planning and resident experience.  

• Zipcar partnered with Parkmerced to promote their Car-Free Living Program.  

• Parkmerced purchased driving credit coupons from Zipcar to help pay for car-sharing trips for residents. 

• Parkmerced has purchased over 2,000 driving credit coupons for residents to promote car sharing. 

• Zipcar has also helped with the drive for sustainability all over San Francisco.  

• Zipcar households in San Francisco own 29% fewer vehicles than the average household. 

• 23% of Zipcar members in the San Francisco area got rid of their vehicles. That’s 12,896 vehicles off the streets.  

About Parkmerced 

Home to about 9,000 residents and 152 acres of parks, beaches and outdoor space, Parkmerced is a vibrant community in San Francisco focused advancing the resident experience, including car-free living and sustainability.   

The Background 

It started as a grand vision in 2011. City planners wanted to completely redesign and reimagine Parkmerced—a community in southwestern San Francisco built in the 1940s. Over the course of 30 years, they planned to transform this sprawling, car-centric neighborhood into a state-of-the-art sustainable community connected by walkable, public open spaces.  

In 2016, Craig Hartman, one of the project’s urban planners predicted Parkmerced would become “one of the most important transformations of an urban neighborhood in America.”  

Soon after, community leaders introduced a Car-Free Living Program to encourage biking, public transit use, and car sharing. Parkmerced turned to Zipcar to help bring this new initiative to life.  

The Solution 

In 2020, Zipcar partnered with Parkmerced to support their Car-Free Living Program.  

Zipcar places 9 Zipcars in the area and Parkmerced purchased driving credit coupons from Zipcar for residents to help pay for car-sharing trips around the area.  

Parkmerced residents have loved the benefits of car sharing. They get convenient access to a variety of vehicles without dealing with the burden of car ownership or worrying about parking. And car sharing aligns with Parkmerced’s mission of getting vehicles off the city streets.  

Since the start of the partnership, Zipcar has moved car-sharing locations closer to the center of Parkmerced, giving residents easier access to cars. *Today, there are 5 Zipcar locations with a total of 9 cars within a 15-minute walk of the neighborhood. By using those 9 Zipcars, the Parkmerced community is taking 117 personally owned cars off the road.  

The Result 

Since the start of the partnership, Parkmerced has purchased over 2,000 driving credit coupons for residents to promote car sharing. 

Zipcar has also helped Parkmerced with its goal of getting more people into fewer cars. The Bay Area has also benefitted from car sharing.  

Zipcar households in San Francisco own 29% fewer vehicles than the average household. 23% of Zipcar members in the San Francisco area got rid of their vehicles. That’s 12,896 vehicles off the streets.   

Here’s how Zipcar helps reduce the carbon footprint of its members across the country: 

• 1 Zipcar takes 13 personally owned cars off the street.  
• Each Zipcar member averages a reduction of 1,600 lbs. of carbon emission annually. 
• After joining, Zipcar members average 40% fewer miles driven. 
• Zipcar has helped take more than 125,000 cars off the streets across North America.  

*Source: Zipcar Impact Report https://www.zipcar.com/impact