During the Austin-based SXSW Eco conference October 6-8, Ryan Johnson, vice president of Enterprise CarShare, Rideshare and Zimride, conducted the discussion "City Transit 411: Urban Myths & Urban Mobility.” Moderated by environmental journalist Jim Motavalli, the panel also featured insight from an academic researcher and a peer-to-peer car-sharing pioneer.

The topic of the discussion was about opportunity for commuters in urban cities. Johnson highlighted Enterprise’s portfolio as a “total transportation solution” by offering car-sharing, ride-sharing, car rental, car sales, fleet management and truck rental to customers.

“We in the transportation industry have a big opportunity to leverage our disparate areas of expertise to make the world better by helping people get to work, school, home and play in the most environmentally and economically efficient ways possible,” Johnson said in a blog post recapping the event.

The panel also mentioned the growth of the car-sharing industry. University of California-Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center Co-Director Susan Shaheen revealed that there are 1.6 million North American car-sharing members, 24,000 car-sharing vehicles and 44 operators. The growth rate for the industry in the past year was 41 percentage points.

Johnson also discussed regulation efforts for transportation options to ensure public safety and fair business practices.

The audience for the event included urban planners, students, transportation executives and other community change makers.

For more information about the panel and to read Johnson’s entire blog post, visit SXSWeco.com.