City Approves 5 On-Street Carsharing Spaces in Old Town

Alexandria recently approved five on-street parking spaces to lease to carsharing companies. 

On the map above, recently approved spaces are marked in red. Existing spaces are marked in purple. A space under discussion is marked in yellow. Click on the space locations for additional information. 

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Alexandria’s Traffic and Parking Board recently approved five on-street parking spaces in Old Town that will be made available for lease to carsharing companies, while one parking space in Del Ray remains under discussion.

City Council approved a carshare policy in January that allows the city to lease on-street parking spaces to interested companies on basis of qualification. An adjoining ordinance set the annual fee to lease on-street spaces in Old Town at $2,300 and $1,500 for Carlyle.

Carsharing companies allow people to reserve and rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. 

• See: Carsharing Program Coming to Carlyle

Carsharing service ZipCar recently inquired about a multitude of spaces in the city. City staff evaluated the requested blocks and determined some would negatively impact businesses and residents.

Staff recommended five spaces to the Traffic and Parking Board, which were approved on April 22. Parking spaces in the following locations will be advertised for solicitation: 

• 600 Block of Madison Street (north side)
• 700 block of Montgomery Street (south side)
• 1600 block of Prince Street (north side)
• 700 block of Wilkes Street (south side)
• 700 block of Jefferson Street (south side)

Staff also recommended a space in Del Ray, next to the Alexandria Community and Human Services building in the 100 block of Stewart Avenue. However, the city has not established a leasing fee for Del Ray. Council will have to set a rate for Del Ray before the city proceeds in leasing a parking space in the neighborhood.

Members of the Del Ray Citizens Association also asked for more time to discuss and examine where a carsharing space might be located.

Two on-street spaces on Ballanger in Carlyle were leased to Hertz in October 2012. Sandra Marks, acting deputy director with the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, said the cars in Carlyle are being used but data on how frequently they are being used has not yet been made available.

Arlington County currently has more than 60 on-street spaces designated for carsharing, while the District has reserved more than 80 on-street spaces.