Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Ben
Look at the fleet of most carsharing organizations in the United States today, and you’ll see a lot of similarities: fuel-efficient, hybrids, cute, and barebones. Most of the cars are ‘fleet’ cars, and come with almost no options, and generally have the smallest engine choice as well. This subtle point, in my mind, will be [...]
Filed under: Carsharing World, Technology
Posted on July 27th, 2008 by Ben
Had a long weekend including a 700-mile roadtrip from Chicago to Philly(don’t ask), and am exhausted. I apologize for the lack of posts in the past few days, and promise new posts coming tomorrow.
Filed under: Carsharing World
Posted on July 25th, 2008 by Ben
PhillyCarShare will be adding three new car models shortly: The Acura TL, Scion xD, and Toyota Corolla. The xD and Corolla are meant to temporarily replace hybrids leaving the fleet, and the TL will be a new addition to the upscale line that PhillyCarShare has.
Clayton Lane, AICP and Deputy Executive Director of PhillyCarShare, says that [...]
Filed under: PhillyCarShare
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 by Ben
It appears that Los Angeles is trying to get Zipcar back. The nation’s second largest city is reportedly debating whether or not to give free parking in neighborhoods near the two LA colleges Zipcar still has cars: USC and UCLA. The move would possibly give a second chance at carsharing in LA.
Flexcar, after the Zipcar [...]
Filed under: Zipcar
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by Ben
One of the biggest problems with carsharing is the lack of making one-way journeys. It means that needing to go a short distance for the day can cost $50 or more, depending on your carsharing outfit. If this problem can be solved, then you will open the floodgates to new people who want to carshare.
Mathematician [...]
Filed under: Carsharing World, Hertz, Nashville
Posted on July 21st, 2008 by Ben
Today marks the first day of Zipcar’s low car diet. In all of their major markets, participants will get $100 zipcar credit, mass transit pass, and various other schwag depending on their market, including Whole Foods gift card, health club passes, VitaminWater, etc.
The program is meant to show how people can cut the personal car [...]
Filed under: Zipcar
Posted on July 20th, 2008 by Ben
This weekly post summarizes, and occasionally lightly discusses, some of the more minor pieces of carsharing news throughout the week. In this issue:
PhillyCarShare retires last of their Beetle Convertibles
HourCar adding 10 more Priuses over next two years
CTA gives 45 more El parking spots to Zipcar and I-GO Chicago
Now the full stories:
Filed under: HourCar, I-GO, Odds and Ends, PhillyCarShare, Zipcar
Posted on July 19th, 2008 by Ben
Where.com, location based software for your iPhone or web-enabled cell phone, includes in its software maps of various places, including Zipcars in your area. After you input your address, it will show you where you are, where the nearest Zipcars are, and whether they are available or not. Once you find one available, they have [...]
Filed under: Technology, Zipcar
Posted on July 18th, 2008 by Ben
Zipcar will be expanding to two Nashville-area universities this fall, Vanderbilt and Belmont, and are apparently in talks to add downtown Nashville:
The Downtown Partnership hopes to have three Zipcars available as of Sept. 1, said President Tom Tuner. On Monday, Turner got permission from the Metro Traffic and Parking Commission to use three downtown parking [...]
Filed under: Nashville, Zipcar
Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Ben
Yesterday, I posted about U-Haul’s U Car Share division and the many problems that it isn’t successful. Today, I will finish the post with an interview I did with a U-Haul employee at a U Car Share location, give my thoughts on what went wrong, and go over what they need to do to make [...]
Filed under: U Car Share