GRAND MANAN – The third vehicle in the Project : Village car share program came online Monday in Grand Manan.
The program launched last autumn with electric cars in Saint Andrews and St. Stephen.
Grand Manan Mayor Bonny Morse said having the vehicle on the island will help out in a few ways. She explained there have been several newcomers to Canada arrive to live on the island who may not have a vehicle and this gives them the ability to get around.
“For single-vehicle families, if someone needs to go away there’s another option,” said Morse.
Morse also noted there’s an economic development component, making it more convenient for people to come to the island for meetings or for health-care workers who come to the hospital.
Morse explained that for these people who go to the island for day trips, “it eliminates the need for them to bring their car over on the ferry.”
Not having a car means they don’t have to check in as early at the ferry terminal. They can simply arrive shortly before the ferry leaves, park their car, buy a ticket and walk on. With a vehicle, you’re required to check in at least 45 minutes before departure, which can mean being there more than an hour prior in order to ensure you get through the line.
The car share vehicle will be parked at the ticket office for the ferry at North Head.
Morse noted that launching in January will likely mean a lower volume of people using the service but she hopes it will give them the time to work out any issues that crop up so everything will run smoothly in the busier time of spring and summer.
“I think there are some local people who are pretty excited and may just want to try out an electric vehicle,” said Morse.
Zaria Sorel, project manager for the care share program at Eastern Charlotte Waterways (ECW), said the process to get the car onto Grand Manan Island began in early December.
“A month, month and a half,” Sorel said of the timeline.
She explained the rationale for putting a vehicle on the island was due to the lack of transportation services, similar to the reasoning for having cars in Saint Andrews and St. Stephen.
Sorel also referenced the desire to assist newcomers who may not have their own vehicle.
“Newcomers to the area that might not qualify for buying a vehicle and they still need a way to get around,” she said.
In addition to the time saved by not taking a vehicle across on the ferry, Sorel also noted the cost saving of not having to pay to transport a vehicle.
Continued expansion
A fourth car is in the works for the program. A charging station will be installed at the former Freshmart site in Blacks Harbour. When that station is operational, the fourth vehicle will come online in that area of Charlotte County.
The biggest uptake of the service, so far, has been in Saint Andrews. Sorel said they have a few customers who are using the service multiple times a week.
“We have one customer who acts as our guinea pig,” said Sorel, noting customers are learning as much as ECW about running a car share service.
One of the things that has been suggested is a winter tips and tricks guide in the vehicle to inform users about things like saving battery power by using eco mode in the winter and allowing more time for charging because the reality of charging time wasn’t matching with what NB Power had been suggesting.
“Our early adopter customers have been really great in helping us better the service for everyone,” Sorel said.
Saint Andrews resident Mark Finley and his family are ECW’s guinea pig for the program.
The family became a single-vehicle one during the pandemic because a second wasn’t necessary. Now that their lives are back to being as busy as usual, they have been using the car share to see if it is a viable option for them and will allow them to carry on owning one vehicle.
Finley said his family’s experience has overall been good, with a couple kinks they’re still trying to work out. One of those being charging time on return of the vehicle.
“Charging has been taking longer than anticipated,” Finley said. The car has to be at a minimum 70 per cent charge for the next customer or a low battery penalty is tacked onto the bill.
Finley said they were considering buying a second vehicle again with his children becoming busier post-COVID. They learned about the car share program and decided to give it a try.
He said so far they’ve been able to access the vehicle when they need it. He understands that may change as more users sign up for the program.
When it comes to charging, Finley said the information on the program initially suggested allowing 45 minutes at the end of the trip to charge the vehicle to the proper level for the next user. Sorel noted they have now updated that to suggest an hour.
There has been a problem with the NB Power charging station in Saint Andrews. It was generating significantly less power than it was rated for, which has increased charging times and resulted in increased cost.
Finley said in his experience, the vehicle was charging at a rate of one per cent per minute on the fast charger.
“Electric vehicles are new to everyone, and (everyone) is just learning the ropes of it,” he said.
He made the point that these issues are not deal-breakers for him and the benefits overall far outweigh the inconveniences. Citing things like reduced wear and tear on his own vehicle and lowered associated maintenance costs were a plus for using the car share program.
Noting the lack of alternatives to personal vehicles, Finley said the car share is a good option to help people get around and have access to transportation they otherwise may not have.
“I do want this program to work,” said Finley.
Sorel said more people are signing up for the service over time and she has started doing informal, coffee chat information sessions in the communities to help more people become aware of the service. The first was this past Friday morning in St. Stephen and a second in the afternoon in Saint Andrews. The sessions will be held on Fridays biweekly and information can be found on the ECW social media channels.
Don Raye and his wife, Joanne, attended the information session in St. Stephen on Friday. Don said they were interested because the program is leading the way in demonstrating what can be done in terms of reducing the costs of owning a vehicle and providing another option for people to get around.
Joanne spoke of the environmental benefits of an electric car, as well as being an alternative to a personal vehicle.
“We had a curiosity about it,” she said. “When people were just talking, we weren’t really sure and we came for some answers.”
Don said they would likely sign up for the program in the future but there were still some things they wanted to educate themselves on first.
“I’ve never driven an electric vehicle,” he said, adding he wants to learn about whether an electric vehicle drives differently, among a few other things he wants to learn before joining on.
Full details about the program and costs are available on https://www.projectvillage.ca/.
robertfisher@stcroixcourier.ca