Select Board debates how to regulate peer-to-peer car sharing, including medallion limits and registry

Select Board members spent more than an hour on Jan. 8 discussing whether peer-to-peer car sharing should be treated as a regulated car rental activity on Nantucket or be exempted and handled via a voluntary registry.

The debate grew out of a packet attachment that offered two options: (1) affirm that peer-to-peer car sharing is not required to obtain Chapter 58 rental agency licenses and medallions; or (2) create a narrow exemption for owners of one or two personal vehicles while requiring registration and licensing for persons operating three or more cars.

Why it matters: Select Board members said the issue touches on parking, public safety, the island's existing cap on authorized rental cars and longstanding medallion rights held by local rental agencies. Several board members urged caution about loosening rules because of enforcement difficulties and the risk of increasing the number of cars on the island.

Libby (Staff member) told the board the town had collected two draft approaches from Town Counsel for consideration and that enforcement was a consistent concern. "I don't think we have a specific recommendation. It's a policy issue," she said.

Town counsel Brian (Town Counsel) described the options and said he believed the Attorney General would likely approve either approach, noting the bylaw would not conflict with a comprehensive state statute on car rental. He said the law authorizing the town to license rental agencies caps a licensing fee at $100 per vehicle and exempts vehicles that pay local excise tax from that fee, but the exemption in the statute does not remove the need for licensing.

Stephen Cohen, who identified himself as representing Turo and "about 150 local residents who use Turo," urged the board to exempt peer-to-peer car sharing from Chapter 58 and suggested the town instead require registration, a sticker, and a modest fee so the town could track participating vehicles. "This is one of the only ways Nantucket residents can make extra money for the high cost of living here in a passive way," Cohen said. He also argued that peer-to-peer cars could reduce the number of rental cars ferried to the island because many shared cars already live here.

Several Select Board members pushed back. "We have to find a way to limit cars on this island," Select Board member Matt said, adding that the island's road system and public parking capacity are fixed. Select Board member Tom and others expressed concern that if medallions are not reclaimed or otherwise used, large rental companies could hold medallions unused as financial assets, or the town could see thousands of additional vehicles if informal sharing is left unchecked.

Board members discussed a middle path that would require registration and a medallion-like identification for peer-to-peer vehicles, and a mechanism to reclaim medallions that are not put into service. Select Board member Dawn suggested using unused medallions as a pool that could be reallocated to peer-to-peer operators so the total number of authorized vehicles remains within a historical cap.

Enforcement questions loomed large. Libby told the board that requiring universal registration could be infeasible given the likely number of participants, but a narrower approach (exempting one or two personal vehicles but requiring registration for three or more) might be administrable. "Enforcement is a concern," she said.

Board members and counsel also discussed precedents from the island's experience with taxis, Uber/Lyft and short-term rentals. Some said the town's 1988 special act and later bylaw intentionally restrict the number of rental vehicles to avoid the congestion seen in other tourist destinations.

Next steps: The board did not make a final decision. Members asked staff and counsel to prepare revised draft language and to bring the issue back to a future meeting with clearer options and proposed enforcement mechanisms. Several members also recommended a publicly noticed agenda item and invited input from rental agencies, airport officials, peer-to-peer operators and island residents at that meeting.

Votes and formal actions: none taken on this topic; the board requested follow-up drafts for further review.