Ireland’s only car sharing initiative, GoCar is this week celebrating its one year anniversary following its inception on August 1st 2013.

To celebrate their anniversary, GoCar is offering to wave the €50 sign-up fee for the service for anyone who joins before midnight on August 1st as well as offering the first hour of use completely free of charge.

Since the service launched, GoCar has surpassed all expectations accumulating almost 15,000 trips, growing its fleet to over 70 vehicles and enjoying a membership base of over 2,000 people.

Membership growth for GoCar can be largely attributed to the license granted by Dublin City Council in July 2013 to operate on-street from their 30,000 pay-and-display parking spaces. This license enabled GoCar to initially place 50 vehicles from 31 pay-and-display locations in highly visible and convenient locations.

Dublin City Engineer/Director of Traffic, Michael Phillips said; “We are delighted to join GoCar in celebrating their one year anniversary in Dublin City. The entire scheme can only be described as a complete success and we are very happy with our decision to grant the first on-street car club licence and car club parking permits  last year.”

Colm Brady, managing director of GoCar Ireland commented: “The speed of progress of GoCar has surpassed all our expectations and we are especially pleased with the growth of our membership base in Dublin and accumulating close to 15,000 trips. Car clubs like GoCar have been hugely successful in a host of major European and US cities to date and the concept is rapidly catching on now in Ireland."

GoCar works on a pay-per-trip basis which allows users the freedom to access a vehicle when and as they need it. Members using on-street GoCars aren’t charged for parking at any pay-and-display parking space, allowing users to budget for the essential vehicle trip they wish to make while removing the stress and cost associated with NCT’s, vehicle servicing and insurance premiums.

GoCar hopes to exceed 20,000 trips this year and add more bases across Dublin. At the beginning of July, GoCar added a new base to the UCD campus with further additions expected at St. Stephens Green and Merrion Square in the coming months.