Innovative new car sharing service in Orange

Orange is the first regional city in Australia to trial an online car sharing service, thanks to a partnership between GoGet and the Department of Primary Industries.

GoGet, a service that allows flexible, online car rental from as little as an hour to a few days, are trialling six cars in Orange over the next six months.

The GoGet cars have allocated parking in Kite Street, outside the Department of Primary Industries, who are expected to be the main user, but visitors and locals are free to also access the service.

Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said he is really looking forward to the results of the trial. The GoGet cars won’t replace their existing fleet, he said, but the flexibility of only paying for what you use should deliver savings for taxpayers and provide a welcome new service for Orange.

“Certainly we will have a benefit by utilising them within our day-to-day operations within our government agency, but more importantly the members of the public and in particular tourists can actually access this service,” Mr Blair said.

“The beauty of these are that anyone that has an account can come along and if a car is available swipe the tab on the windscreen, the car opens up, grab the keys, the fuel card is there, go about your business, return it to where you found it, and just pay for the use and I think that is pretty exciting. I think that is a great option for locals, tourists and also for our staff based here in Orange.”

GoGet’s head of location and partnerships, Christopher Vanneste, said the partnership with the DPI offered a unique opportunity for them to move outside the major cities and bring car sharing to Orange.

“We've worked with the Department of Primary Industry for a number of years, working on reducing their fleet in inner Sydney, especially in areas where they had to pay for parking. This trial will bring it out to rural Australia and try to help them save costs out here as well, but also bring a service to the community that usually wouldn't be able to be feasible on its own,” said Mr Vanneste, who believes tourism could drive them to expand their Orange fleet in the future.

“We see a lot of opportunity with that tourism market. I come to Orange often and the biggest struggle is driving back into Sydney after that long weekend and now that I can jump on the train it really appeals to me to come out here a lot more often,” he said.

“We will just grow with demand. So if it works, we'll just keep adding cars and work in with Council to increase the service.”

To hire a GoGet car, apply online through their website to get your own GoGet smartcard. Bookings can be done through their app and then simply tap the Smartcard on the windscreen sensor to access a vehicle. The keys are already inside and fuel is included in the hire price.

Photo: Primary Industry Minister Niall Blair tries tapping a GoGet smartcard to access one of the six rental cars on trial in Orange.