St. Paul commits $300K to salvage Evie carshare fleet after service ends

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her announced on Thursday that the city will invest $300,000 to secure the fleet of Evie carshare vehicles following the company's decision to cease operations in the Twin Cities on Oct. 15. The funding is intended to keep the cars on the road while the city searches for a new vendor to take over the program.

City staff from multiple departments recovered and secured nearly 200 vehicles within a week of the shutdown announcement. Her stated that the city holds a lease on these cars and that they were used to operate trips. The administration identified an additional $160,000 in funding, which supplements the $140,000 already budgeted for the coming year to maintain the service.

The mayor said the city will issue a request for information to find a partner to run the program. "We will issue a request for information to find a partner to take this program over," Her said. "This step is crucial as we try to find a bridge operator." She noted that sustainable transportation is a core commitment of the climate action and resilience plan adopted this year.

During the program's operation, Evie offered roughly 670,000 trips in the metro area. Her indicated that 44% of the carshares were used by low-income residents and 45% were used by BIPOC members in 2024. Supporters of the initiative reported that nearly 5,000 people in the region used the service to commute before the shutdown.

The financial strain on the city coincides with a proposed 2027 budget that includes a 6.8% property tax levy increase to address a $26 million deficit. The increase would add $58 annually for a median value home. Her stated that the city initially considered a tax increase of more than 12% but reduced the figure in the final proposal.

Evie, launched in 2022 as an alternative to ride-hail services, received initial funding of $725,000 from St. Paul and $325,000 from Minneapolis. The parent nonprofit, Hourcar, cited rising insurance costs and cuts in federal funding as the reasons the program was no longer financially sustainable. The nonprofit laid off all 21 of its employees after shutting down operations.

Minneapolis continues to provide annual support for the program. The city's move to retain the fleet represents an effort to preserve commuter options in neighborhoods that have often been left out of infrastructure investments. Her said the city is taking on climate change head on by investing in the infrastructure needed for tomorrow.