BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Light City Carshare is giving Buffalo East Side neighbors access to electric vehicles through the ZEV app, expanding clean transportation options across the community.
For residents like Carol Kinsbury, public transportation has long been her primary way of getting around Buffalo.
"I'm always on the bus every day," she said. "My girlfriend has a car, a real big car, and it costs a lot of money for gas."
City leaders hope the new car-share program can provide other options.
"Transportation should not be a reason that someone cannot access opportunity," Tyra Johnson Hux, with Clean Buffalo Mobility, said.
Community leaders, state partners and residents gathered on Thursday at the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology to officially launch Light City Carshare, a new all-electric carsharing program for Buffalo's East Side.
"Everyone deserves transportation, especially on the East Side of Buffalo," Sinclair McGuffin, with Light City Carshare, said.
McGuffin said the goal is to provide reliable transportation to the community.
"There are a lot of things that you just can't reach in Buffalo because it doesn't have access via the transit system, and we're really hoping to bridge those gaps," McGuffin said.
Residents over 21 can download the ZEV app, sign up for a membership with a $20 application fee and access an electric vehicle with the click of a button. The service costs $5 an hour or $40 for a full day of use.
"I'm hoping it connects people, especially on the East Side, by connecting them to things that they didn't have access to before, grocery stores with better foods, activities in or out of their neighborhoods," McGuffin said.
The program is a part of Clean Mobility Buffalo, by LISC New York, and supported by NYSERDA through the New York Clean Transportation Prizes Program.
Sinclair said NYSERDA gave $10 million to help bring clean transportation options to Buffalo's East Side, including the new electric car-share program.
"We're trying to give people access to transportation and lower greenhouse emissions so they can breathe cleaner air," another organizer said.
WATCH: 'Everybody deserves transportation': Buffalo's East Side gets affordable carshare option
Neighbors like Kinsbury say the program could make everyday errands easier.
"It's convenient," she said. "You can rent a car, get groceries and bring them back home."
There are currently three vehicles operating on Buffalo's East Side at True Bethel Baptist Church, the Tri-Main Center, and the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology.
