Detroit is known as the Motor City, but many of its citizens struggle with transportation, as a third of its residents do not have a car, per a 2017 Michigan State University study. Inconsistent public transit, uneven availability of bike lanes, and lack of access to car or shuttle services further exacerbate the problem, leaving Detroiters stranded.
Enter the Eastside Community Network, a community development organization focused on Detroit's underserved east-side residents, and their partnership with the Affordable Mobility Platform, an electric vehicle car-sharing program run by Forth and Mobility Development that rents EVs to people for $5 an hour or $50 a day, insurance included.
Loretta Powell, a Detroiter who first used the program after her car went in for repairs for two weeks, told Planet Detroit, "This is very important to our community because when issues happen like that, it can be a hardship when you have to pay so much money for your vehicle, or you have to ask someone to drop you off at work or figure out how you will get to work or your doctor's appointment."
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Cost 💰 She continued: "If you take an Uber, that's a lot of money back and forth for a car ride that may only last a few minutes, compared to you can have this car the whole day for that amount of money, or two days, or however many days you need before you can get your car repaired."
Utilizing EVs to help with mobility also fits within the ECN's environmental goals by "focusing our efforts on policy advocacy, infrastructure development, and community education that promotes climate resiliency and equitable climate change strategies in Detroit," per the ECN website.
Urban areas experience the impacts of climate change differently than their suburban or rural counterparts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that lower-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods in which more people of color live tend to be hotter — often victims of the urban heat island effect — and can flood more easily.
But infrastructure changes, such as adding green spaces, or using EVs for ride-share programs like Detroit does, can help alleviate those effects while reducing pollution overall.
In a press release from the program's launch in 2023, Connor Herman, a program manager at Forth, said: "The [Affordable Mobility Platform] program will increase access to electric vehicles across Michigan for BIPOC and lower-income neighborhoods, which typically bear the brunt of transportation emissions, congestion, and noise pollution."
The freedom of movement is also a quality of life improvement for residents in need. "It's not just about cars, but really how pedestrians and all folks can get around," Arena Johnson, equitable mobility coordinator for ECN, told Planet Detroit.
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