Car Sharing Programs as a Cool Neighborhood Amenity

Pick-up and drop-off operates on a self-service basis, with the car being parked in a predetermined location. Hourly rental is common, and in fact usually the norm.

This program is most effective where people live in a high density environment, such as downtowns, college dormitories, or large apartment complexes. There is also some potential in small towns where residents typically are able to walk everywhere, or in golf car communities where users may occasionally need a vehicle for a trip to a nearby larger town.



The large car rental companies have really entered this hourly rental market since we first wrote about this topic. It's probably going to become increasingly difficult to found locally based co-operative business.

Even if corporate-dominated, it's still a good thing environmentally. Zipcar is a company that centers on this business, and the major rental companies have variations such as Enterprises's WeCar. But here we're going to assume you might be inventing your own program, certainly a feasible thing to do.

The usual customer needs a car only occasionally, sometimes because they live and work in close proximity and would only need the automobile for an atypical longer jaunt to a particular destination.

Sometimes couples are able to sell one vehicle and use car sharing programs for those few occasions when both need to drive.

More than 600 cities with car sharing programs have been observed across the globe. The advantages for the individual user occur because the capital cost of the car, insurance, and maintenance are accounted for in the rental cost. If the miles driven are few, it makes great economic sense.

The advantage for society may well be that the user tends to do less joy riding, since the rental cost includes the fixed costs that most vehicle owners prefer to ignore. Studies showed that people who join such arrangements also increase their transit use, walking, and cycling for transportation.

We like the idea because some neighborhood associations should consider adding hourly vehicle rental co-ops to their program.

If your neighborhood might be interested, now is the time to start; big business might ruin the car sharing concept as a small profit center for your neighborhood.

Typically this arrangement would not be cost effective for the daily commuter, but it's great financially for those who drive less.

Operational models differ, as do procedures for obtaining access to the keys and logging trips. Some are very serious businesses. Recently I encountered a five-friends-sharing-a-car arrangement.

This idea began in Europe, but now has progressed to the United States, Canada, and Australia. The best known American programs may be in Boston, Washington DC, and Portland.

This development also may be related to the various bike rental programs struggling to get underway. Paris has a massive scale bike rental program with access over much of the city, and others strive to imitate and deal with the theft issue, which is a bit more complex than for automobiles.

If you're in a dense neighborhood, at a university, a large retirement village, or a large medical complex where many employees live nearby, see if you can organize a program of your own. One of the major rental companies may or may not help you out.

But it's an energy conservation and materials conservation step that's worthy. For more information, see the Car Sharing Network, or use your search engine to see what's happening near you.

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