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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sick of Traffic Option #2: Car-sharing.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe I’m relying too much on lessons from kindergarten here, but would it be so bad to share a car in this city?
Now that I’m car-free — and believe me, I did not intend to be — I’m tickled to be living where Zipcar is available. The car-sharing/short-term-rental company recently merged with Flexcar, which had been the source of shared vehicles here since June, 2006.
Zipcar vehicles are strategically parked around the city. (Keep your eyes open at MARTA stations.) Your membership and an online reservation will get you into one. It’s a rental, but for an hour, or a day, without all the paperwork and signing away of your first-born child. Gas and insurance are included, which is a nice perk.
I haven’t used the service, but I like the idea of it, in combination with my feet, a bike and an employer-subsidized MARTA card.
Kelley Raye, a member services coordinator at Zipcar in Atlanta, told me plenty of others seem to like it, too, especially as gas prices climb higher. (The average price for a gallon of unleaded in Atlanta today: $3.75.) Members will use the cars for lunch or work trips, she said, relying on company accounts instead of their own cars and gas.
But a recent uptick in membership and interest in certain types of vehicles — more Volvos, fewer Honda Accords — doesn’t mean Atlanta’s all about the car-sharing idea: “Atlanta’s a weird market,” Raye said. “Everybody wants their car.”
Indeed, a July 2007 AJC story said Flexcar was taking a gamble to branch out in “sprawling Atlanta,” where 80 percent of commuters drive to work alone.
Have you used ZipCar? Would you use it? Are there any other car-sharing or car-pooling services?
Or do you think my attempt to play nice and live without a car in Atlanta just newcomer naivety?
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