A Bay Area Nonprofit

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Win a trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium ... and more

2012 February Newsletter

Critter Contest! back to top

Go out of town, find your inner tree hugger, meet a furry friend … and win a free trip (tickets included) to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

otter love

photo by Jodie Wilson

February is here and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! So instead of booking expensive Open Table dinner reservations, buying calorie-ridden chocolates, and standing in a crowded shop to buy overpriced flowers for your special someone, why not book a trip to just get away from it all?



When you book a Day Trip in February, you’ll also have a chance to win another opportunity to get away in March. Just snap a photo of a furry, fuzzy, scaly, or feathery critter while on your outdoor adventure and share it with us, along with the date you took the photo. The member with the best photo will win a free ride and a pair of tickets to meet even more animal friends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (If you take a photo of a pigeon, we’ll suspect you never left the urban environment!)



Single or not, it’s easy to share the love of the Bay Area’s great outdoors. So Get Mobilized, step out to explore Nor. Cal nature, and enter for your chance to do it again.




Click here to read the official rules and details.

 

Clear Umbrella for Clearer Skies back to top

clear CCS umbrellaGet a friend to join you on your journey of reducing car dependency. Share your love of City CarShare with a friend and if they sign-up, you can shower each other with $40 in driving credits ($20 each) plus we’ll give you an ultra cool City CarShare umbrella (think Mod) to protect you from Spring showers.

  1. Get a friend to set up a new City CarShare account and each of you will get to share $40 of free driving credits ($20 each).
  2. Make sure your friend includes your name and Member ID in their online application and we’ll take care of the driving credits.
  3. Once your friend has a key fob in hand, pick up your umbrella from our office.

Click here to learn more about this promotion and official details. (This offer may not be combined with other offers or promos)

 

electric rides = green + cool back to top

efleet lineup graphicRock down to Electric Avenue in our new electric rides! Check out our first full Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), the Nissan Leaf, at 3rd & 16th on the Mission Bay Campus. Or reserve the Chevy Volt, a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) at Polk & Grove (Green Vehicle Showcase). Need something a little familiar? Try our suped-up Toyota Prius PHEV 40, which can go over 99 miles per gallon, from its Parnassus & 3rd Pod in SF.

A Mitsubishi i-Miev and another Nissan Leaf will join our family later this month. Stay tuned through our Facebook, Twitter, or Google + pages to be the first to know when these electric rides join our fleet. (Don’t worry East Bay members, you’ll get EVs too.) These new vehicles will join our two existing converted Toyota Prius PHEVs for a total of 7 City CarShare plug-in/electric vehicles (EV).

And before you drive off in a new electric ride, get familiar with how our new EVs work:

  • In the car: Check out the Pocket Guide is in the visor and the EV Guide in the Glove Compartment (attached to the Quick Guide).
  • Reservation System: Click on the link to the EV Guide when you reserve a car and get a link to the EV Guide sent to your smart phone through our text message reservation confirmation service.
  • Member Lounge: Once you log in, click on the Member Lounge to view and download the guides.

 

We ask our member, James, if he liked driving the Nissan Leaf. back to top

“Yes, better torque. Faster. Smoother ride … I will use the [Nissan] LEAF every chance I get …Thanks, for introducing me to an incredible vehicle.”- James P.

 

 

Driving Tip: EV ABCs back to top

nissan leafWe are so excited about our new Electric Vehicles! Never driven an EV? Don’t worry, it’s easy. Check out these simple ABCs when it comes to our new electric rides.

Always plan your trip – Plan where you’re going, estimate the mileage for your reservation, and take note. (Tip: San Francisco is only 7 x 7 miles so keep in mind that the area is smaller than it seems. That’s why our hours + miles driving rates end up costing less than flat hourly rates for over 90% of the trips our members take.)

Battery – When you first start an EV, check the estimated battery range on the instrument panel. This serves as a good guide for how far your EV can go. Make sure that you have enough power to go where you need to go and come back.

Consumption – Monitor your consumption. Highway driving, air conditioning, heater use, and jack-rabbit (rapid start) acceleration will drain the battery more than basic driving.

 

Ghost Light back to top

ghost light graphicJanuary 6 – February 19, 2012
Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Our community partner, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is at it again with the world premiere of a story about a theater director who must confront his buried feelings about his infamous father’s assassination as he stages a production of Hamlet. Jon was only 14 when his father, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was shot. The play’s poetic mosaic of fiction and memory was written by Tony Taccone: Ghost Light is staged by none other than Jonathan Moscone.

Berkeley Rep is not only a community partner and a nonprofit business member of City CarShare, but this local gem helps to drive the green movement in other ways as well. Check out the stats of their industry-leading Green Policy, learn more about the history of The Rep, and discover what’s playing this season by clicking here.

And don’t forget your member perk! Berkeley Rep will give ticket discounts to CCS members and hold them at will call only. When picking up the ticket, patrons who show their CCS key fob at the box office will receive one voucher for an item at their cafe counter (worth up to $8). Vouchers can only be claimed when picking up tickets held at the box office. Learn more about your member perks here.

FREE Berkeley Rep Tickets! back to top

We are giving away a pair of tickets to the production Ghost Light on Saturday, February 11 at 8 p.m. To enter, email us your most haunting experience in San Francisco by Wednesday, February 8 at 10 p.m. One lucky winner will score a pair of great seats!

 

SF Green Film Festival back to top

SFGFF imageMarch 1 – 7, 2012
San Francisco Film Society Cinema in Japantown

City CarShare is proud to sponsor, since its inception, an innovative community event, the San Francisco Green Film Festival. The SFGFF is the Bay Area’s only event dedicated to film and media that explore the relationship between people and the planet. For its second year, the festival will run a full week, March 1-7, at the new state-of-the-art San Francisco Film Society Cinema in Japantown.

Together, City CarShare and SFGFF share the same green goals, values, and commitment to environmental programs. SFGFF’s mission is to create an engaging forum for innovative storytelling and community action. With this festival, SFGFF hopes to inspire environmental action and advocacy, and empower savvy consumers, activists, and advocates, like many of you.

Green Giveaway! back to top

We’re giving away tickets to the awesome 2nd Annual SF Green Film Festival! To win tickets, shoot us an email and tell us what environmental issue you care about most by Friday, February 17 at 5 p.m. Two winners will win a pair of tickets to a film of their choice. If you miss out on this giveaway, stay tuned to Facebook and our member log-in page for additional SFGFF giveaways.

 

Pod Watch - Get Mobilized! back to top

New Pods are coming soon to a theater near you! We make sure our Pods are placed where members really need them. Check out these new Pods out for yourself.

Get Electric!
Charge up, and share on, in these new rides
Nissan Leaf – 3rd & 16th (EV, UCSF)
Chevy Volt – Polk & Grove (SF Green Vehicle Showcase)
Toyota Prius PHEV 40 – Parnassus & 3rd (EV, UCSF)

Open Now
SF/ Inner Sunset – Parnassus & 3rd (EV, UCSF)
SF/ Mission Bay – 3rd & 16th (EV, UCSF)
SF/ Bayview – Armstrong & 3rd (Bridge Housing)

Coming Soon
Oakland/ Temescal – 49th & Broadway
SF/ Union Square – Taylor & O’Farrell
SF/ Western Addition – Fillmore & Sutter
Berkeley/ Ellsworth & Carleton
SF/ Castro – 19th & Douglass
SF/ Dolores Heights – Sanchez & Cumberland

Click here to share new Pod location ideas or offer parking.

 

Update regarding fees back to top

Because our new electric vehicles don’t use gas to go, we updated our fees to encourage members to plug-in.

There is a $25 fee for failure to plug in an electric-based vehicle once you return it to its home Pod. This is the same fee that we give to members who leave the gas tank less than half full after their reservation.

For more information, check out our Fees & Credits page.