Nelson has all but lost car-sharing services after its main provider went under and allocated central city car parks were removed.
Car share company Mevo provided cars for residents in Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, and Nelson to reserve and hire at a flat rate, to be picked up and returned to dedicated parks.
However, when Mevo went into voluntary administration in April and then liquidation in May, its vehicles disappeared from Nelson.
The company had approached Nelson City Council in 2021, expressing interest in parking spaces for car share services.
The council subsequently developed a car share policy and allocated nine spaces across three central city carparks for use solely by Mevo.
Last month, the council agreed to reallocate the nine parks back to use by the general public.
Sustainable transport group Carbn has since purchased Mevo’s assets, but not the business.
Sustainable transport group Carbn has since purchased Mevo’s assets, but not the business.
Chief executive and director Shaun Drylie says Carbn plans to re-establish Mevo in Wellington in late June at a level that helps the group understand how to scale the service.
“We will consider taking it to other centres over the coming months and this may include Nelson,” he says.
“We need to ensure we understand the operational requirements and commercial viability before doing this.”
Peter Olorenshaw, Nelsust convenor, says car sharing was “great” but thought Mevo’s presence in Nelson was “perhaps a little bit premature”.
“We haven’t got the density of apartments in Nelson to make it a more viable business. I think we’ll get there, but we’re not quite there yet.”
He thinks car sharing only had “marginal” impacts on emission reductions when compared to the number of long-distance daily commutes into the city.
However, he wondered if car sharing was more suitable for businesses that did not have the means to expand their vehicle fleet, and if rental companies could fill the car-share void.
Bowater Toyota ran a car sharing pilot in Nelson from October 2022 to January 2024, and businesses were a key pillar of the service.
“There was some relatively good uptake from a small number of companies; individuals in the public weren’t so into it,” says chief executive Tony Bowater.
The Toyota Mobility Project increased the utilisation of the outlet’s existing fleet by hiring out its demonstration vehicles for people to use, and generally received positive feedback from users.
“Ironically, it was just starting to get legs when the pilot ended,” he says.
“There was a number of very environmentally-concerned people that were seeing it for the benefit that it produced, it’s just there wasn’t enough of them.”
Tony thinks the “big clincher” limiting the success of the pilot was its ‘Point A to Point A’ journey structure that required the vehicle to be returned to the company’s premises.
That was in direct contrast to a service like Mevo where the vehicle could be left at a different location to where it had been picked up.
“It certainly has merit. I think, in a higher density, higher population basis it would be much more feasible.”
He is confident that learnings from the pilot have encouraged some adaption across Cityhop and Ezi Car Rental, which were both supported by Toyota.
Cityhop confirmed it only had two cargo vans available for car share in Nelson, through a partnership with Mitre 10, that were situated on the Ezi Car Rental site at Nelson Airport.
Ezi Car Rental declined to comment.
James Dalglish, acting chief executive of the Rental Vehicle Association, says car-sharing business models both domestically and internationally have been “quite challenged financially”.
“It’s a part of the sector that is developing and growing and changing, but I think it's part of the sector that continues to struggle in terms of its financial viability.”
However, he adds that the line between short-term hourly car share services and traditional longer-term daily car rentals was “becoming very blurred”.
“I think all operators are starting to play in multiple spaces,” James says.
“So are there operators in Nelson that are available for people to get vehicles from when they need them? The answer to that is absolutely… There’s plenty of them.”
Councillor Kahu Paki Paki sat on the panel that approved their reinstatement and said elected members and staff had put in “a lot of work” to enable Mevo’s presence in the city.
“This just shows how fragile implementing some of the best intentions and ambitions can be affected by economic climate and world events,” he says.
“We’re back to where we started.”
The council’s acting climate change manager, Jessica Ettridge, says carsharing aligns with the city’s parking, climate change, and land transport priorities.
“Nelson City Council welcomes other car sharing businesses to apply to be a car share provider and further information can be found in our Car Share Operation Policy.”
