Do you have a car on your block that always seems to be parked in the same spot? It collects dust on dry weeks, and disguises itself under a mountain of snow in the winter. Well if you said yes, this vehicle is the victim of what I call “owners neglect." If this black diamond urban ski mountain is your car, never fear; there is now a solution to this situation that is growing rapidly in urban/semi-urban areas.

Many of us own a car for the convenience of using it a couple times a week: to go to the grocery, to go to a concert across town, to get to a dentist appointment early in the morning, or to get out of town for a weekend. Wouldn’t it be easy if you could walk a block and pick up a shared car whenever you need it, and never worry about the upkeep?. This concept is called a car-sharing or car co-op program. You pay a monthly fee, based on your expected use, to employ the service. With the service, the company maintains and services the vehicles, fills ‘em up, takes care of insurance, clean them out, and reserves a parking spot for you when you’re done. This saves you lots of time, money, stress, and reduces the number of bills you have to pay. Here is why it’s important, the car is useful to you on the days you need it, and it is useful to others in the alternate time slots. In some cites these car-sharing programs are even employing fleets of hybrids only. And it is still affordable!
Let me break it down for you. Following are some insight as to why this system benefits you, the community, and the environment.

Individual benefits:

• The tank is always full = time saver
• No insurance bills to pay = less bills in the mail
• A parking spot is always reserved at the end of your day = time saver
• Your car is always well maintained = money and time saver
• Lower theft risk= lower blood pressure, money saver
• No scraping snow off the windshield in the wee small hours of the morning = time saver
• No more waiting in lines at the car wash = time saver
• No more looming responsibility of getting that darn oil changed= time saver, lower blood pressure

Community Benefits:

• Traffic ease: Drivers are only on the street when they need to be; therefore convenience is no longer a scapegoat.
• Fewer cars on the street = less street space required for parking spots: Imagine if every city street had one more lane because we didn’t request it for parking?
• Less parking lots = greater allowance for green space, bicycle lots…healthy public space
• Community members are sharing with each other, which raises the overall “feel-good” factor.

Environmental Benefits:

• There is a lower demand for individually owned cars which results in fewer cars manufactured annually and more cars maintained.
• As vehicles are serviced more frequently and monitored with precision, they will last longer, be safer to drive, and maintain optimal gas mileage.
• If we all participate is a car sharing program and reduce the number of cars on the streets, you might wonder what would happen to the (American) car industry. The car industry could instead switch to a service based supply of cars, parts, and maintenance. Ex: Ford would directly deal with Zip Car. This form of business will keep older cars running well, and reduce our impact of the dead end system where they sell/ we buy-and the relationship is over.
• When the current fleet of cars is bumped down to the 2nd or 3rd tier fleet in 5 or 10 years the affordability will increase, and again, these cars will still be leading a healthy life.

So choose your path. Saving time is money in your pocket, driving less is always better, and sharing makes you feel good.

Here are a couple of Car-Share programs in the US:

Bi-Coastal: http://www.flexcar.com/

Bi-Coastal: http://www.zipcar.com/

Bay Area: http://www.citycarshare.org/

Chicago: http://www.igocars.org/