Car-sharing in Minneapolis and St. Paul hit a major milestone this year, marking 20 years of providing transportation for those who don’t have wheels.
The anniversary comes after a record-setting 2024, in which users of what has grown into one of the nation’s largest car-sharing systems made more than 191,600 trips — the most ever. Nearly 90% of those trips were taken in an electric vehicle, the most in the history of Twin Cities car-sharing.
New highs were set for the amount of pollution reduced and for how much money households saved on transportation costs, according to the annual Impact Report released April 21 by Hourcar, the nonprofit that operates the local car-sharing system.
“It was a great year,” spokesman James Vierling said. “It’s for everybody. It’s not just poor people’s transportation. It’s the best-kept secret.”
More people appear to be finding it. Hourcar membership jumped to 11,219 members last year, up 32% from the previous year, the nonprofit’s report said.
Caitlin Boley, of Minneapolis, has been using car-share since joining Hourcar in 2013. She uses the for-rent cars to run errands and take her rabbit to the vet. She has taken vehicles to visit friends in the suburbs and for a weekend getaway in Iowa.
“Sometimes I just go for a ride when I have hankering for a drive in the country,” Boley said. “I can live here without a car. It really is viable.”
With no car of her own, Boley, who works at the University of Minnesota, said she appreciates not having to worry when a snow emergency is called. Boley she said she wants to do her part to reduce her impact on climate change, and car-sharing allows her to live her values a “tangible way.”
