Free electric car rentals? Pierce County nonprofit launches carshare program
Life is tough without a car on the Key Peninsula. Starting this summer, residents will have one more way to get around.
On June 26, Key Peninsula Partnership for a Healthy Community held a launch party for their new electric carshare program, “KP Go.” The grant-funded program allows residents to reserve a 2026 Chevy Equinox EV for up to six hours at a time on weekends, free of charge, while nonprofit partners such as Key Peninsula Community Services, The Mustard Seed Project, Red Barn Youth Center and Food 4 All can use the car on weekdays, according to the program website. There is only one car available at this time.
KP Go represents a new public transit option on the Key Peninsula, which hasn’t had routine access to a bus since 2012, The News Tribune reported. Pierce County instituted a pilot program called Peninsula Transit late last year, allowing residents to hop on a shuttle for free rides along a fixed route traveling to and from Gig Harbor for eight months, starting at the end of last November.
The Key Peninsula is surrounded on three sides by water and has one main highway leading in and out. Its unique features require a “unique transportation solution,” said Ben Paganelli, co-founder and co-executive director of the Partnership, in an interview Tuesday. A survey the Partnership conducted in 2023 showed that 96% of their respondents relied on a private vehicle for transportation on the Key Peninsula, and 61% of their homes were more than a quarter mile from the nearest major road, according to a presentation shared with The News Tribune.
Last summer, the Partnership applied for a grant to support the carshare program, Paganelli said. The state awarded them the Zero-emissions Access Program (ZAP) grant, which “provides funding for zero-emission carshare pilot programs in underserved and low- to moderate-income communities,” and is funded by the state’s Climate Commitment Act, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation website.
The state Legislature allocated over $3 million total to the ZAP in the 2025-2027 biennium, and the Partnership received $199,672 for their program, per a list of awardees on the WSDOT website.
For now, only partner organizations can reserve the car while the Partnership irons out the software and logistics, but the plan is to open it for individual weekend reservations starting in August, Stefanie Warren, assistant director for the Partnership, told The News Tribune. At that point, the car will be available for 24 hours on both Saturdays and Sundays. Key Peninsula residents ages 21 and older are eligible to register for the program.
Glen Cove Auto Repair is donating quarterly vehicle maintenance services for the program, according to the KP Go website.
The service will remain free of charge through June 2027, which is when the grant funding runs out, Warren said. They plan to keep the program running but are looking at other grant opportunities. They may also consider a sliding scale fee structure in the future as the program expands, Paganelli told The News Tribune.
Eventually, they’d like to add a vehicle that’s accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, along with other vehicles of different sizes, Warren said. “We would love to develop a fleet of vehicles for all of the unique requirements on the KP.”
Users reserve the car through a mobile app called Mondofi, which prompts new users to make an account and verify their driver’s license information. After users register their account, they’ll receive a request for consent to share their motor vehicle records, Warren said, allowing the Partnership to review the driving record of anyone who wants to drive the car. Drivers can use the carshare program if they don’t have any at-fault accidents or major moving violations on their record, along with a maximum of three minor moving violations over the last three years. Though the program isn’t open for individual reservations yet, users can register now to receive updates on when reservations will open, Warren said.
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The car is stationed at the Key Peninsula Community Services Senior Center and Food Bank, at 17015 Ninth St. Court NW in Lakebay. Drivers must return the car to that location within six hours, and are subject to fees if they fail to return it in that time, Warren said.
Paganelli and Warren both emphasized that the program will be driven by the community, and that the Partnership may make tweaks as needed.
“We’re going to be working with our partner members for the first month or so of the launch before we open that up to community members, just as kind of a test run to see how things go, how people are using it, because this is a completely unique program,” Warren said. “This has never been done on the Key Peninsula before, and this is really designed by our partners to be of most value to the Key Peninsula community.”
