Photo: Contributed - OGO Car Share

An Okanagan car sharing company is toying with the idea of expanding south, after three years of operation in Kelowna.

The OGO Car Share Co-op held an open forum at the Cannery Brewery in Penticton on Wednesday to test the waters and determine if there may be a receptive audience in Penticton

Car sharing allows members to use vehicles when they need them, usually for shorter periods of time than a standard car rental.

The concept has been extremely popular in larger cities. Vancouver boasts four different companies using a car share model, all with different features that appeal to different demographics.

OGO Car Share began operating in Kelowna in August 2013.

An OGO Car Share member must pay a $500 refundable 'membership share' up front to use the service. Drivers are then charged $4 per hour of use and 40 cents per kilometre.

They currently have seven vehicles that can be used and over 200 members.

Christian Brandt, with OGO Car Share, said the company hopes to add three to five vehicles to their Kelowna fleet this year.

If they are able to receive support from the City of Penticton, the Penticton business community and they find enough demand for their service, the expansion south could be coming in the near future.

“Ideally, if all the partnerships come together, we might be already looking at this year,” said Brandt. “If that doesn’t come through we’d probably be looking more at next year, so we’d rather not put a date on it.”

While Brandt said car sharing in larger cities is very different from those in smaller regions, he pointed to the success of the Kootenay Carshare, based out of Nelson, as a great model.

“They made it happen in a small community,” Brandt said.