New West resident disappointed to find Evo locked behind private parkade

For about five years, people in New Westminster have been able to rely on Evo Car Share to get around town.

Kevin Wilson is among those who have been using the service to get to a variety of appointments – including visits to the doctor.

Earlier this month, the Victoria Hill resident did what he usually does: he opened his app, spotted an Evo that was about five minutes away, booked it, and that was that.

Or so he thought.

“I was swearing up a storm frantically trying to find the car,” says Wilson, “I probably wandered for a good half an hour, running up and down the street trying to find this thing.” He finally spotted the car, behind a parking lot gate at Royal and McBride. “By the time I got to it, I realized I wasn’t going to make my appointment."

The next closest Evo was parked a 25 minute walk away.

Wilson had no choice but to call the doctor’s office to see if they would reschedule. There was nothing available for the same day. “That meant I ended up cancelling. All of it was at least 30 minutes of a waste of time, total.” Frustrated, he took his experience to a New West Reddit thread. 

“It’s the first time it’s ever happened to me – I mean, I’ve heard of it happening to other people. Then in the Reddit post, I think there were several people who had said they’d seen similar things, or people who live in that building who have seen Evo cars in the parkade.”

Wilson says this is the first time it’s ever happened to him, and hopefully it’ll be the last. “This is so selfish. It’s harming the people around you, and they’re not able to use these cars.” Wilson worries that with cars behind gates, people won’t want to use them. “If the usage goes down, what if that means Evo doesn’t do as well here? What if it means even fewer cars in our area?”

“It’s in our rules”

Evo’s website clearly states where a user is able to park. “Avoid parking in unmarked underground or aboveground parkade spots and commercial parking lots such as grocery stores, fire zones, unmarked private residential or park board properties,” the website says.

Furthermore, a spokesperson for the car sharing service says it’s in every contract.

“For a first-time offence, we contact the member to ensure they understand that they’ve broken the rules. It’s often a genuine mistake; some are unaware that gates close after a certain time or don’t remember the rules in their membership agreement.”

However, if it happens again, the rule breaker will need to pay up. “We charge a $300 fine plus the rate cost for the time the car is not accessible to others. We take this seriously and have terminated memberships in the past for not following our parking rules.”

In Wilson’s case, he says he reported what happened to Evo – and gave the location and licence plate of the car. In turn, he was given a 30-minute time credit for the run-around. At the end of the day, Evo and Wilson wanted to get one major point across: sharing is caring for your neighbours, and when you leave the vehicle in a parkade, that’s not really caring.

“You know, people are using this service for reasons that are a lot more important than mine,” says Wilson. “If you’re using it dishonestly like this, you’re screwing over your neighbours.”