Our Impact
Car shedding
We’d love to see more people sharing fewer cars! Did you know that most personal vehicles sit idle 95% of the time, cost us roughly $10,000 a year to own and operate, and take up valuable land to park? The economic, social and sustainable benefits of reducing dependency on privately owned vehicles is considerable.
Did you know?
- For every Modo, 9-13 private cars are removed from our streets.
- Using Modo (or other round trip carshare services) is shown to reduce GHGs (greenhouse gas emissions) between 30-50%.
- The average rate of car ownership in Vancouver is 1.6 cars per household, compared to Modo members at 0.36.
- Roughly a third of members have gotten rid of a car (or two) since joining Modo.
- Nearly a quarter of members would have purchased or leased a car if it weren’t for Modo.
- Saving hundreds of dollars each month on car ownership means having more money available for housing, education and life events
Amazing place to work
With our social purpose at the forefront of why we exist. We’ve always put our people first and we are a Living Wage certified employer in BC. Our employees love working for a successful social enterprise and tell us they are 100% connected to our Purpose and proud to work at Modo.
Community support
Compared to our corporate counterparts, our ability to sponsor community events and causes is limited. Yet, with a small but mighty team (and dollars!) we’ve had considerable impact over the years with many local groups.
Our approach to inclusion
As a co-op, being inclusive is very important to us. And while it may not be possible for everyone to drive with Modo, our goal is to be as inclusive and accessible as possible.
Advocacy initiatives
As a co-op, we aim to create healthier and more sustainable communities. We do this in many ways, namely by providing round trip carsharing, with all the social and environmental benefits that come with it.
Carsharing software
As a pioneer in our space, we’ve paved the way for other carshare operators to enter the market. Over a decade ago we worked with the City of Vancouver to develop the world’s first Developer Parking Variance and on-street parking bylaw.
We also make our proprietary booking software available to others, in order to grow the carshare movement. Over a dozen carshare operators around the world use our system. Some are paying customers, while others such as non-profits and Canadian co-ops access it without licensing fees.
Shared mobility
We are proud to partner with TransLink Tomorrow and their New Mobility Team to help explore, test, and implement innovative ways to improve mobility in Metro Vancouver. Some of the innovations we are working on include:
TransLink’s Vanpool – operated by Modo – is an innovative way to get employees of difficult to reach work sites, to and from the job. It’s our region’s first micro-transit system and uses Modo’s vehicles and technology to power the pilot. The first pilot to get underway is at UBC, with more to come in the future.
The innovation is a perfect marriage between carsharing and carpooling: a hybrid approach that uses our carshare vehicles to get pools of staff to work – in a more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way.
Shared Mobility Compass Card is still a work in progress. We completed the first phase of the pilot, which was designed to test the concept of multi-modal access with select employers. The program provided employees with a special Compass Card, designed to have public transit, carshare and bike-share accessible in one place. It offered a convenient mechanism for employees to use these modes for work-related trips, reducing the need for them to drive their own cars to work. The pilot, which was deemed a success, has now led to the second phase of this work, focused on the consumer market.
We’re excited to announce the innovative Share Mobility Pilot program is the recipient of a Canada Clean50 Top Project Award. The program was a collaboration between TransLink, Modo, Mobi by ShawGo and Evo Car Share, and was made possible with the support of movmi Shared Transportation Services Inc. It is phase two of our work, focused on the consumer market.
The goal of the Pilot is to make multimodal travel easier, more convenient, and more seamless. In doing so, we hope to shift more trips away from private vehicles and into active and sustainable modes; creating healthier more livable communities – in alignment with our Purpose. The Pilot was successful in meeting the Clean50 Top Project’s criteria for an innovative, informative, and inspirational project. Learn more at https://www.clean50.com.
API
Modo shares more than cars! Carsharing works best when it’s part of a larger, multi-modal transportation solution, and we believe that transit modes are most effectively integrated when they share open data.
Programmers can access all of Modo’s public data via our Application Programming Interface.
Modo’s API currently gives access to the following information:
- What cars do we have? What are their descriptions and accessories?
- Where are our cars based? What’s the latitude, longitude and short description of each location?
We do not release any personal information. (You can read our privacy policy here.)
Our API is read-only: application programmers cannot create or change bookings. All data comes back in JSON format. Please let us know about any applications you build with our data! Email us at info@modo.coop