Seattle free-floating carshare ordinance, 2016

In an effort to provide alternatives to personal vehicle ownership and greater access for low-income households to more transportation options, the city of Seattle introduced a pilot car-share program in 2013. The program established incentives to ensure operators are distributing vehicles equitably throughout the city—in exchange for larger fleet sizes, operators must commit to locating vehicles throughout the entire city. The program was expanded in January 2015 and updated metrics were released in 2016. Performance measures suggest that, with 65,000 carshare members, users may have given up as many as 9,100 vehicles, with about half of that number related directly to the availability of free-floating vehicles.

Using this information, it was decided not to introduce any caps on the number of carshare vehicles that can operate in Seattle.

Download the Free-floating carshare policy on the right side of this page.

To view the current carshare permit conditions visit the Seattle Department of Transportation carshare website.

Entry updated August 2018.