In the third episode of Moving Beyond the Automobile, we take a look at a more efficient way to use a car. Car sharing allows users to evaluate the full cost of each car trip, which encourages them to decide what the most appropriate mode choice is for a specific trip.
Zipcar, a leading global car sharing organization, reports that members walk and bike 10-15% more than they did before joining Zipcar. They also report that members save $600 a month when they choose car sharing over owning a private automobile.
So while car sharing isn't exactly "Moving Beyond the Automobile," it is a great way for cities and individuals to help make the transportation network more efficient and become less dependent on owning a private cars.
(Note: This series is made possible by funding from the Fund for The Environment & Urban Life.)
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Robin Chase:</i> [00:14]
One of the things that intrigues me about both car sharing and ride
sharing is that it can dramatically change the number of trips that
an individual takes, and the number of people in that car. Car
sharing makes people pay the full cost of each trip as they drive.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Mark Norman:</i> [00:31]
They save $600 per month in what they would have otherwise spent operating
and parking and insuring a personal car. But they also tell us
that it helps with personal health, that they walk, they bike 10 to
15% more than they did otherwise. Zipcar is a global car sharing
organisation. Car sharing is a better way to use a car.
It enables members to join simply with providing a drivers license,
a credit card, they pay an annual fee and then they get a card in the
mail that is their access to what I call is a flexible fleet at their
fingertips, different types of cars that they can reserve for one all
inclusive rate, by the hour or by the day. That rate includes
gas, insurance of $300,000 of liability, more like a personal policy,
and maintenance and home location parking. You pick up the car
and return it to its home location.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Hans Vanderscheff:</i>
[01:25] I use car share in two main ways. I use it at home.
My wife and I do own a car but we share a car between the two of us
and often we need to go get things for our home or run errands or move
furniture.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Mark Norman:</i> [01:38]
When a member joins zipcar, 40% of them tell us that they avoided buying
a car or were able to sell a car thanks to the wheels when you want
them convenience of zipcar. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Hans Vanderscheff:</i>
[01:48] The second way is that the non profit that I work for is called
the Freshwater Trust and we use zipcar quite extensively for our travel
in the region. Our staff go out to project sites and they use
zipcar at that point.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Mark Norman:</i> [02:02]
We work closely with a number of our host municipalities that do a number
of things to support car sharing and encourage good behaviour and good
policy. A couple of things like the allocation of on street parking
spaces and designating them and enforcing ticket and tow policies that
support car sharing. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Gabe Klein:</i> [02:20]
We have taken public parking spaces and given them to car sharing companies
to raise the visibility of car sharing. Now when people visit
and they see these big orange poles on the streets, and they think about
moving here, they realise they don’t need to have a car. Car
sharing has become an extension of the public transportation system. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Mark Norman:</i> [02:39]
Some even walk the talk with their own municipal budgets where the district
of Colombia uses zipcar technology in its city owned fleet to enable
them to have fewer cars with the latest hybrid and environmental friendly
technology. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Gabe Klein:</i> [02:52]
We have more people using car sharing per capita than almost anywhere
in the country. Regionally through metro, through Arlington, through
DC government, there was a push to promote car sharing, and I think
that that’s one of the reasons we’ve seen a 5.6% decline in car
registrations from 2005 to 2008. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Mark Norman:</i> [03:15]
Portland was one of the first cities in North America for car sharing,
it started in 1998. In addition to being just a progressive, very
walkable city with a very high use of cycling for daily commuting, about
9% of people in Portland cycle to work on a regular basis, they’ve
also had a very progressive approach in city planning.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Dan Bower:</i> [03:32]
Beyond providing the spaces for the car sharing companies to use, the
city supports car sharing by putting signage in each space and enforcing
the spaces. Our most recent survey here in Portland shows the
number of people who drive less than 1000 miles per year increased from
28% to 48% after they joined zipcar. </font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Robin Chase:</i> [03:50]
So when people are car sharing, which means they’re paying for cars
by the hour or by the day, they totally rationalise which is the right
mode choice for any particular errand. </font> <br></p>
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