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*SOLD OUT* Invest in Less with Peg City Car Co-op Investment Shares

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To our valued members and supporters: Investment Shares are sold out.

We’re excited to announce that we are now SOLD OUT of all $600,000 in Investment Shares!

Thank you to our valued investors for making this sale a huge success. Your investment means we can continue to grow and diversify our fleet by adding more vehicle options – like spacious cargo vans! Our investment drive in 2019 allowed us to grow our fleet from 40 to 60 vehicles in 2020!

Your continued support in Peg City Car Co-op allowed us to grow from a carshare with 3 cars operating in 1 neighbourhood to 60 vehicles in 11 neighbourhoods. Your investment will help us bring carsharing to even more people. Our goal is to reach nearly 100 cars by 2023. That means more people will be walking, biking and busing for most of their transportation needs, reducing congestion and pollution in Winnipeg.

Invest in Less: Investment Share opportunity with Peg City Car Co-op, two friends walking in the park

Watch your investment grow!

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Sharing is caring. Become an ambassador today!

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Join our Ambassador Program and earn a $20 driving credit when you share your Peg City adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!

carleighoutintheworld

Are you a social media savvy Member? Join our Ambassador Program to earn $20 in driving credit when you share photos and videos of your Peg City Car Co-op adventures! Members in this program can submit two posts per month for up to $40 in driving credit!

How does it work?

Take a clear, well-composed photo containing the Peg City logo, a brief caption, and people. Don’t forget to tag @pegcitycarcoop and #pegcitycarcoop when posting to your social of choice.

Send an email to [email protected] stating that you’ve made an ambassador post to claim your credit. If possible, please include a link to your post. We will then add the $20 credit to your account! Each member can claim two credits per month.

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Multi Modal Mural Tour

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We’re getting stoked for the 2020 Wall-to-Wall mural festival. So we want to take you on a tour of previous works in anticipation of this years submissions!

You can walk, bike, bus, drive carshare to visit any of the many murals brought to you by the Wall-to-Wall festival. Share your favorite destination on social media for a chance to win one of our weekly prizes! Read on for details:

The Multi-Modal Mural Tour:

peg city car coop car by Wall to Wall Mural

We want to celebrate accessible public art so we are taking you on a Multi-Modal Mural Tour!

For the next four weekends we will be posting a selection of Wall-to-Wall murals installed around the city. We are encouraging folks to visit their favourite pieces from the Wall-to-Wall Mural Map by whichever mode of travel they can. We hope you take some time to explore our city’s vibrant murals and enjoy the nearby destinations!

Each weekend we will drawing for prizes from local businesses to the folks who share a snapshot of their adventure with us on Instagram and Facebook!

Simply take a picture of yourself (or a friend) by one of the murals posted on the Mural Map tag @pegcitycarcoop and @synonymartconsultation. You can post to your story or onto your feed. Enter your post from Friday to Sunday to be entered into the draw.

Have fun and see you out there!

We’ve expanded! We now have carsharing location in the St. John’s and Luxton Areas. Sign up today using our expansion promo code GROW100 for a $100 credit!

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Synonym Art Consultation

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Peg City Car Co-op is a proud partner of Synonym Art Consultation and the Wall-to-Wall festival. The festival aims to make public art accessible and a part of the everyday experience of living in Winnipeg. 

synonym team standing near Peg City Car Co-op Image Wrapped vehicle

Since 2012, Synonym Art Consultation has curated and facilitated over 100 different art installations and events in various venues across Winnipeg, always with the goal of making contemporary art more accessible to the public. One of the most exciting ways they do this is by co-producing the Wall-to-Wall Festival:

https://www.facebook.com/synonymartconsultation/videos/1438989126285586/

“A mural and culture festival started in Winnipeg, Manitoba on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation and Treaty 1 Territory. The community-focused festival highlights equal parts muralsmusic, and youth workshops and mentorships. “

Learn more

This year, Wall-to-Wall is one of the very few festivals that has not been cancelled by the ongoing pandemic. And while the festival is still set for September, this year there will be some big changes. 

Chloe: “We feel very lucky right now. Synonym and the arts community have always been know for being adaptable. When the virus hit, we were devastated to have to cancel the Rural Mural Tour and a variety of programs offered to youth and schools. However, we are lucky to have found a way to shift many of our programs online.” 

Did you attend the recent Virtual Drag Safe Grad?

This year Wall-to-Wall is opening a fully digital call for submissions, which has made the program more accessible. All of the selected works will be printed on to 8ftx8ft panels and installed throughout Winnipeg.

Interested in making a submission? Click for details

Chloe: “This kind of change means we can bring new and greater accessibility to public art! Not just for the public, but for artists themselves. Painting full-scale murals can be restrictive for people with mobility or accessibility needs, and also limits the medium of submissions to paintings, almost exclusively.”

The 2020 format will be open to anyone around the world, including painters, graphic designers, and photographers.

“We are thrilled to be broadening the program in this way and will continue to panel a curatorial committee to ensure diversity of voices and equitable decisions.”

Art in motion: The Multi-Modal Mural Tour

This year Peg City and SYNONYM are teaming up to bring members another Mobile Mural! We will be unveiling this new creation at the start of September, just in time for the Wall-to-Wall Festival!

To get people stoked about Wall-to-wall, we are putting on a Multi-Modal Mural Tour: 

Each week starting this Friday, we will post a selection of Wall-to-Wall murals in our Instagram Story. 

You can walk, bike, or carshare to any of the locations and take a picture to add to your Insta Story.

Tag @pegcitycarcoop and @synonymartconsultation for your chance to win one of the weekly prize packs donated from our sponsors, including Fools and Horses, Synonym Arts Consultation, your very own Peg City Car Co-op and more!

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Carshare Q&A: Selling the car

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Today we are talking with two of our newest members, Rosalie and Donald, who are in the process of selling their vehicle! It’s a big decision to move from car ownership to carsharing. Today we are looking closer at the “whats, whys, and how much” involved in their decision. 

Rosalie and Don recently moved to Winnipeg from PEI to be with family. Their son and daughter in law are also Peg City members; they earned driving credit by referring these two.

Read on to learn about our latest promotion. Earn $50 in driving credit when you sign up for Peg City this May!

R: “They had me at ‘we want you in our lives'”, said Rosalie. “So I told them, ‘give me two years and I’m there’, so, here we are one and a half years later!”

Like many families right now, these two are unable to see their loved ones, and miss seeing their grandchildren, one of the main reasons they sold their house, furniture, welding and carpentry tools and moved across the country in a Toyota Rav 4.

D: “That’s why we bought the car. We loaded it up to the gills, as my mom would say, and moved to Winnipeg” said Donald. “For me, it was between Winnipeg and New Zealand”.

Lucky for Winnipeg, New Zealand isn’t accessible by road.

The two have since lived in the Wolsely, Corydon and now Osborn areas, which they credit for having access to many walking, cycling, and bus routes. The two make regular use of a variety of active transportation modes!

D: “We used to walk up to the Superstore and the Bulk Barn nearby. Now in Osborn we make a habit of biking and busing wherever we can. “

R: “We usually walk or bike to see the grand-kids. From here it’s only a 25-minute walk. Maybe 45 for Don!” She laughs.

Since they make such frequent use of active and public transportation, the couple has chosen to sell the SUV and become Members of Peg City Car Co-op.

R: “Now when we don’t bike or walk we can take the car. There is a hybrid-electric Chevy Volt just down the street from here. “

The Cost of Ownership

I asked the Simeone’s to estimate what they have spent per month on their vehicle in the one year they have owned it. We came up with this reasonably conservative estimate. The figures below do not include the purchase price of $12,000 because they intend to sell it, but keep it in mind!

The Cost of Ownership

Since they bought the car outright, there is no “financing” cost. They have not had any significant repairs or damages to the vehicle. Because they have only owned it for one year and it is nearly ten years old, depreciation on the car is not significant.

However, depreciation is one of the most commonly overlooked expenses. In the first five years of use, a car loses nearly 60-70% of its value!

Regardless, we still arrive at a chunk of change: $3,600 a year. This figure is on the low end of typical annual vehicle expenses! A more average look at what it costs to own and operate a compact car in Manitoba is as follows.

Car of Ownership

Some sources, in case you want to make your own cost comparison: financing cost, insurance estimatorfuel costsparking in Winnipeg (we only included an estimate for private residential parking, if you also pay to park downtown during the day, add another $120), average maintenance cost (we bumped the cost to $1000 because PCCC rotates winter tires on all our vehicles, which CAA’s does not include in its figure), depreciation. We excluded major repairs/damage as they can vary greatly, but they can be hundreds to thousands of dollars in a single bill!

Comparing Carsharing

The two mentioned that they likely only need a vehicle once a week for grocery shopping and some community activities (when the time comes). So let’s compare how much they can save by switching from owning a private vehicle to carsharing.

Comparing Carsharing

These two are on our Member plan, which means they also pay a member share to enter the Co-op, which is a one-time, completely refundable $500 payment.

The same amount of travel with PCCC would cost our friends 27% of what they spend currently spend to own a private vehicle. Even more, only 10% of what the average person might spend on a small private vehicle in Manitoba.

Now, these numbers are rough, so I encourage folks to look into their own expenses. We all have different needs and habits, so your costs could be much milder or much worse. Feel free to use our trip calculator (found at the bottom of the page) to see what it might cost for you to carshare instead of own.

If you are ready to give carsharing a try, you can sign up with our latest promo, CARSHARE2020, you’ll get earn $50 in driving credit, plus we will waive your registration fee!

If you refer a friend with this promo-code, we’ll give you $50 driving credit as well! Make sure they pass along your name when they sign up!

The new mix: walk, bike, bus, car carshare

Now that these two have made it to Winnipeg, and have settled in, they are finally able to ditch the car and get back to their hobbies, with a little help from Peg City Car Co-op.

R: “I’ll be using it to get to orchestra practice. I play the viola with the Pops Orchestra and flute, with another band. I think we might even time it so that Don drops me off at practice and does the shopping. That way we can get it all done at once!”

D: “I might take the car to lawn bowling. I could bus, but it takes nearly an hour and to drive might be less of a hassle.”

We love to say it, so I’m going to say it.

Goodbye hassle. Hello freedom.

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COVID-19 update from Peg City Car Co-op’s Operations Manager

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It has been almost a month since COVID-19 hit Manitoba. Since it’s arrival, a lot has changed, as the government has moved swiftly to curb transmission through social distancing. 

By now, most people who can stay home are doing so, which has resulted in quieter streets. Less activity has resulted in a reduction in trips for all forms of mobility, including carsharing. At the same time, we understand that many of our members rely on our service for essential grocery runs and activities. We have committed ourselves today more than ever, to be there for our members during these trying times. 

From day one of the pandemic, we have worked to ensure our fleet is safe to use for essential trips. Our staff are working harder than ever to keep cars sanitized for our members. We have even started offering pre-sanitization for individuals who are living with or are themselves, at risk. To help frontline workers, we have also introduced a new price plan. You can learn more about these efforts here

During these difficult times, we also need to watch our costs as less demand means less revenue to pay for fixed expenses like staff, insurance, and parking, to name a few examples. To ensure we are here to serve the community now, and in the long run, we decided to delay expansion, and even reduce our fleet size. 

If you notice that there are fewer vehicles in your neighbourhood, it’s because we have made the difficult and unwanted decision to adjust our fleet size to reduce costs and to help ensure we can keep our cars as clean as possible. 

Rest assured that as soon demand picks up we will be reintroducing vehicles as quickly as possible. We also look forward to the day when we can continue our expansion efforts. 

To our members and community, may you and your family be safe and well. 

Sincerely, 

Philip Mikulec

Operations Manager

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Re:Member – Moving with the times

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For many, daily transportation has changed dramatically. The way we move and the reasons we choose to travel are shifting. But when we change how we move, do the costs change too?

The spread of COVID-19 has many reconsidering how and when they choose to walk, bike, bus and drive. By moving safely in a variety of ways, folks can cut costs, while flattening the curve at the same time.

When to Walk, Bike, Bus, and Drive

Could I walk instead? Can I bike where I would have bused? Should I borrow a car instead of owning one?

Every way we move through the city comes with some cost, and level of risk, practicality, and flexibility. We’ve broken down five ways most folks get around by asking these four questions:

Risk:

I am concerned about my possible exposure to COVID-19. If I have to travel, how might I be exposing myself?

Cost

Time, money, and even mental health! How much will it cost to use or access this type of transportation?

Practicality

I can’t fit four, 48 packs of toilet paper into my backpack and then hop on my bike. How can I get where I want to go in a reasonable time and still carry the things I need?

Flexibility

Can I save money by using this less?

COVID-Cost-comparison-202

Moving with the times

There are many ways to move with the changing times, and we hope this offers our community some tools for deciding the best and safest times to walk, bike, bus, and drive.

In a nutshell: stay home if you can, walk and bike where possible, bus if you must, drive less, and only pay when you do.

If you are interested in adding carsharing to your multi-modal mix, or you are done paying the high price of car ownership, join Peg City Car Co-op today!

COVID -19

We are closely monitoring the news and government updates regarding COVID-19. We will continue to update our members and community through social media and direct email messaging.

Our chief concern during this time is the safety of our members and staff. For info on how to schedule a pre-booking cleaning or to review our up-to-date COVID-19 policies, please read our official statement here.

As a community, we can all work together to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by minimizing non-essential travel, practising social distancing, as well as regularly washing and sanitizing our hands.

PCCC strongly recommends that members and passengers clean/sanitize their hands upon entry and exit of a vehicle. When possible, use an alcohol-based disinfectant to wipe areas down and to disinfect your hands if you don’t have access to soap and water. More than ever, it is important that members do not leave any waste in vehicles.

If you think you may have been exposed to COVID-19, or feel any symptoms commonly associated with the illness (e.g. fever, sore throat, cough), please follow guidelines set out by Manitoba Health.

Working together, we can help keep each other safe! 

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Carsharing Q&A: New families

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Welcome back to Peg City Car Co-op’s Q&A series. Today we’re chatting with Sara and Joshua, two long time members who have been car-free since 2011! We had the good fortune of chatting with these two during a visit to Aurora Farm to donate their Christmas tree to the goats.

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For the folks at home, these pictures were taken way back in early February. Back before the world was #cancelled. Feels like ages… So sit back, stay home, and enjoy some cute babies and llamas.

Sara, Joshua and Zander

Sara and Josh are long-time members who have taken an intentional approach to living car-free in Winnipeg. Now, with a new addition to their band @heathenevemusic, these two are still avid carsharing ambassadors. Today they share their stories, suggestions and criteria for going car-free as a new family.

Plus, babies, kittens and llamas…
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Give us a little background, how long have you been car-free? What inspired you to go car-free?

Sara: We’ve been car-free since 2011! I’ve never owned a car, but Josh owned a car for 5 years. 

The idea began when we moved to Argentina for a few years for work. We did not have access to a car, so we had to structure our lives around that. We quickly learned that we could walk or bike much further than we initially thought. 

After moving back to Canada, we decided to try and maintain that lifestyle. So we intentionally structured our lives to support that choice.

What sort of changes did you make to support that choice? When did carsharing enter the picture? 

Sara: First we started by looking for apartments in central areas, close to bus routes while biking and walking wherever we could. When we started looking to buy a home, we actually told our mortgage broker that we wouldn’t look at houses if they weren’t near a Peg City Car Co-op car. 

I think they were a little frustrated by the criteria, but many people make choices this way. We have friends who say, “I found this great apartment, and there’s a bus stop right outside!” It’s the same thing with the co-op cars.

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Josh: Also, living centrally keeps us close to our community. Before Peg City came around, I can’t tell you how many times we had said, “wouldn’t it be great if we all shared a car?” Most of our close friends and family only needed a car occasionally, with a few of them wanting to get rid of their car altogether. There are just a few key things you need a car for in this city.

We wanted to be members for quite a while, but before 2017, you couldn’t take the cars out of town, or overnight. We have family out of town so once that changed, we decided to join!

What were the most critical factors in your choice to go car-free? How has that evolved?

Financial

Sara: When we were thinking about getting rid of the car (and deciding to get married) we compared the difference in our bank accounts. And found Josh had spent nearly $30,000 in 5 years on the car!

Josh: I tell my students this story every year, and it blows their minds. They are just at the age where they are old enough to start dreaming of getting their licence and buying a car. 

Sara: We do the math every year. With insurance, gas repair, maintenance, parking, and financing. It’s still abundantly clear to us, we are saving money. 

Stats Canada reports the average Canadian spent $11,433 on private transport in 2017.

Another Peg City Member estimates owning a basic compact car would cost approximately $8,600 a year.

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Environmental

Josh: There is an environmental benefit aside from the very clear financial benefit.

Each carsharing car can take up to 11-15 private vehicles off the road.

I teach my middle years students about climate change and the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions every year. I even used one of the vans to drive my students to the Global Climate March, this last September!

The next generation needs to know that while their individual choices have an impact, they are part of a global community and that their voices matter. 

Hassle

Sara: I still don’t regret it getting rid of the vehicle. There’s just so many little things we don’t have to deal with.

Josh: Exactly, like the mornings when the car doesn’t start; getting things repaired; being stuck in traffic until 7 pm every time it snows!

Starting a family is a big change, how did carsharing fit into that transition?

Sara: Our experience is that, when you have a kid, everything becomes more difficult, generally. Carsharing feels, proportionally, just as complicated as it was before. Now we just have more doctors appoints and daycare drop-offs. We are fortunate to have a lot of parental leave between the two of us, so we can plan things out. 

And like we’ve said, we review its financial and logistical performance yearly and can adjust our lifestyle as needed. As long as it continues to perform as well as it has been, we will continue to do it!

Josh: As for our typical trips:

We take the cars for trips out of town to Morden, Eli, and Swan River so we can visit family.

Josh: We are also members of the Peg City Car Co-op Ambassador Program. So we earn driving credit when we make posts about our trips!

Sara: We use cars to transport music equipment to gigs. We are a band called Heathan Eve. We often have two guitars, amps and a cello! 

If we’re not mistaken, you also drove one of our cars to the hospital when you went into labour?

Sara: Hahahaha, yes!

Sara: It’s not the first time I’ve taken a Co-op car to the hospital. As a member of the medical community, I need access to a vehicle. During my placement, I was still able to complete my program without owning a car, thanks to Peg City!

Anything else you’d like to mention?

Sara: Consider all the experiences you miss out on by paying for a car your whole life! $8,000 a year is a lot of vacation time. [once again, this interview was held before all travel was #cancelled]

Josh: While they go fast, driving a car is not much quicker when you structure your life around living further away and driving everywhere. I frequently ride my bike past hundreds of cars stuck in rush-hour traffic. 

For us, driving makes sense for some things, sometimes.

Thank you for reading. We realize we have been holding out on the lamas. So here are a few more babies and llamas!

Are you curious about how carsharing can work for your family? Shoot us your questions on Facebook, Instagram, or send us an email at [email protected]. You just might see your question featured in the next Q&A feature!

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Keeping it clean with our Fleet Manager, Will Belford

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Our Fleet Manager Will offers some insight on Peg City’s enhanced sanitizing efforts and tips on how to stay safe using Co-op cars for essential travel.

A message from our Fleet Manager

Hi I’m Will, Fleet Manager here at Peg City Car Co-op. If you’ve been watching our stories you know that we’ve doubled down on washing and sanitizing the vehicles. 

As information has become available we have responded. We mobilized all available staff and sanitized our entire fleet as fast as we could. Moving forward, we will continue to visit vehicles five times faster than usual. Any time a vehicle is washed, serviced, or inspected: it is sanitized.

We want you to have confidence in using the cars. When sanitizing surfaces we are focusing on touch points. We’re aiming to be as thorough as possible. Every handle, lever, buckle, and button will be cleaned. Including seat adjustment levers and seat-belts!

We are cleaning the cars using disinfectant products chosen for their proven virus killing efficacy. They include a commercial disinfectant used in hospital and food service industry, Spray Nine heavy duty cleaner, and good old alcohol. Some of these products may leave a film on surfaces. While it may be visible, it does not mean the vehicle is unclean.

“Everything that can be touched is being sanitized

A special thanks to our members who have contacted me to offer their help sanitizing cars, and suggesting places to sanitize in the car. We are all doing our part and your help is greatly appreciated!

There are many ways that our members can help reduce their own risk of spreading COVID-19. We ask that all members wash or sanitize their hands before entering and upon exiting Peg City vehicles, suggest bringing disinfecting wipes, in case you need to spot clean. We are also offering pre-booking sanitizing for at-risk folks, and any booking over 24 hrs in length. (details below)

Our top priority is the safety of our Members, staff, and community as a whole. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about our services.

Will Belford
Fleet Manager, PCCC

Peg City Car Co-op’s new cleaning services

To minimize the spread of COVID-19, we are taking extra steps to sanitize our vehicles. While PCCC’s vehicles are cleaned regularly, we have implemented new cleaning standards that focus on disinfecting high-touch places in each vehicle. While we are maintaining our regular full wash cycle, we have also started going to cars as frequently as possible to clean key touch points. This means our team is attempting to go to each car every couple of days, and sooner if possible.

Pre-booking Sanitization:

In addition to our recent fortification in sanitation efforts, Peg City Car Co-op is now offering pre-booking vehicle sanitization for bookings at least 24 hours in length, as well as any booking for those who are, or are living with, at risk or immune-suppressed individuals. This will be based on an honour system. No explanation required!

While we social distance, PCCC understands that people still need to get around safely to buy groceries, go to a doctors appointment, or just get outside for a little while. We hope this program will help those who are most at risk.

To request your pre-booking cleaning, Please provide us with a minimum of 24 hrs notice via email [email protected] or phone (204) 793-3912. Or, simply reply to your booking confirmation email.

For now we will only be offering the program Monday to Friday on bookings that start between 8 am and 6 pm.

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Become a Peg City Ambassador!

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Join our Ambassador program and earn driving credit when you share your Peg City adventures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Earn Driving Credits

Are you a social media savvy Member? Join our Ambassador Program to earn $20 in driving credit when you share photos, videos, and stories of your Peg City Car Co-op Adventures! Members in this program can submit 2 posts per month for up to $40 in driving credit!

Call or email us today to sign up and share your Peg City experience!

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