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The City Council will consider a proposal tonight that could put an automobile at residents’ fingertips while liberating them from the tyrannies of automobile ownership. 

The council will likely approve a $115,000 funding request to the city manager for the creation of Berkeley City CarSharing, a nonprofit company that would allow members to go online or make a phone call to reserve a car whenever they need one. It would cost members $2.50 an hour and 45 cents a mile. 

Councilmember Mim Hawley, who sponsored the recommendation with Councilmembers Linda Maio and Polly Armstrong, said Berkeley is a good town for a car-sharing project. “This would be a good place because there are a lot of students who might be able to take advantage of it,” she said.  

The program would be run by the organizers of City CarShare, which started in San Francisco last February with 12 new Volkswagen Beetles that are stored in four garages in different parts of town. Co-director Kate White said the city’s program has been a success so far.  

She said the company plans to increase its fleet of cars to 50 by the end of the year. 

“We currently have 200 members and have received applications for 500 more,” she said. 

Members reserve cars online or by telephone and then show up at the designated garage with a “smart key” that operates the vehicle and keeps track of time used and distances traveled. Members are billed monthly. To join there is a refundable $300 deposit plus an administrative fee of $10 per month. 

Car sharing is modeled on programs in Europe and Canada. In the United States, there are car-sharing programs in Chicago, Boston and Portland. 

The most immediate goal is to reduce the demand on parking in urban areas. So far the San Francisco program has been successful in increasing the ratio of persons per parking space from one owner per space to 16 members per space. 

Long-term goals include energy conservation and the creation of more housing at less cost. Most urban areas have ordinances requiring a set number of parking spaces be developed for each residential unit. If the car-sharing program is a success, the mandatory number of parking spaces could be reduced thereby freeing up more space for residential development. 

White said the program would ideally attract car owners who drive less than 10,000 miles a year, although she said many of the initial members in San Francisco joined because they couldn’t afford a car. “CityShare can also be a form of preventive car ownership,” she said. 

Maio said she’s not sure if there will be enough money in the city budget to fund the startup. “There’s so much competition for money I don’t know if it’s going to shake out,” she said. “We really won’t know until June if we’ll have the money.” 

Maio said the funding would be a one-time allocation for the first year because the nonprofit would be self-sufficient once it was up and running. 

White said Berkeley would be able to benefit from the San Francisco program because so much of the footwork has been done. White spent three years and nearly $1 million in federal and environmental foundation grants to get the San Francisco program started.  

Most of the money went into the development of the technology that keeps track of the cars, mileage and billing. “All we need in Berkeley to get started is $115,000 and the parking spaces,” White said. She said developer Patrick Kennedy has donated three spaces in the Gaia Building, which is currently under construction at 2116 Allston Way in the downtown area.