The changes are small, for now, but they include:

• A new website that has a smarter appearance
• Cars are now available 24/7 rather than only when the U-Haul location is open
• They mention that they will be adding additional models of cars once they grow.

They are also expanding their weekend rates to virtually all cities. Weekend rates are higher than weekday rates, and they attempt to move demand to times when fewer people are renting. Some commercial districts will have higher weekday rates than weekend rates though, b/c demand is during the week. It gives people a ‘discount’ to move driving to the weekdays rather than everybody doing their shopping on Saturday afternoon.

Depending on the city, rate increases can vary from non-existent, to $.75/hour and $9/day. How does your city fare? Here’s the rundown:

(NOTE: May not be 100% accurate; for corrections or to just discuss this, reply in the forum)

Atlanta

• Weekday hourly rates increasing by $.25, weekends see $.50-$.75 increase, except $7/hour cars.
• Weekday daily rates stay flat, weekend daily rates increase $3-$6/day

Boston

• Across the board $.75 hourly increase, and $5-$9 daily increase

Chicago

• Weekday rates stay the same, both hourly and daily
• Weekend rates increase $.50-$.75/hour and $5/day

New York

• All rates increasing $.50/hour and $5-$8/day - no weekday/weekend separation

Philadelphia

• Weekday hourly rates staying the same, weekends have $.50 increase
• Weekday daily rates increasing by $0-$4/day
• Weekend daily rates increasing by $5-$9/day

Pittsburgh

• Weekday rates increasing $.25/hour and $1/day across the board
• Weekend rates increasing $.75/hour and $6/day across the board

Portland

• All rates increasing $.50/hour and $3-$4/day

San Francisco

• Weekday rates increasing $.25/hour and $.50-$1.50/day
• Weekend rates increasing $.75/hour and $5.50-$6.50/day

Seattle

• No change

Toronto

• Most cars increasing by $.25/hour and $1/day weekdays
• Most cars increasing by $.75/hour and $6/day weekends

Vancouver

• Weekday hourly rates stay the same
• Weekday daily rates increase by $0-$4
• Weekend hourly rates increase $.50/hour
• Weekend daily rates increase $5-$9/day

Washington DC

• Weekday rates increasing $.25/hour and $2/day
• Weekend rates increasing $.75/hour and $5/day

Important Notice: Gas cards have been removed from all PhillyCarShare vehicles on a temporary basis due to repeated and widespread vandalism to the vehicles. In order to keep your cars in service (so you can use them!) we must take this precaution…

Looks as if the gas crisis has hit PhillyCarShare again. This seems to be a very new message, as the gas card was still in my MINI I rented earlier today. I wonder if they will be replacing their gas cards with new ones as Zipcar is, where you key in your Zipcard number. They will need to find a solution, and quick, if they don’t want to piss off their members.

What do you think the solution is? Have you seen any of the gas cards swiped? Discuss it here.

What’s the nicest car in your local carshare? Unless you belong to Zipcar or PhillyCarShare, the answer is likely to be a Prius or a low-end MINI hardtop/convertible. While that is more than fine for the early adopters, who are mostly utilitarian(barebones fleet model is perfect for them) and the environmentalist(better gas mileage is a better car in their eyes), it will hit a brick wall when carsharing comes into the mainstream.

People who drive Audis and Acuras won’t want to downgrade to a Prius, and definitely not a Yaris. They would love to be able to still drive a Lexus or other luxury brand though, and are willing to pay for it. PhillyCarShare charges an extra $2/hour for these cars compared to the Mazda3, Honda Element, and Civic Hybrid, and $4/hour more than the Prius. According to Clayton Lane of PhillyCarShare, the high-end cars are sustainable in their operation.

You aren’t just going after the upper class, either. It is very attractive to people who drive Toyotas, Fords, and Hondas. Lane mentions that “people making $30,000 per year can drive a bimmer for $8/hour.” That is a huge positive to marketing carsharing: Drive a more expensive car while still saving money. Being able to pop into an Audi or Lexus for a low price can be very enticing.

One reason this may not be happening is that carsharing organizations look at these cars and see poor gas mileage. While being environmentally friendly is a main goal of carsharing, just getting more people to get rid of their cars will help. Ten people each driving a Prius is more harmful to the environment than ten people sharing one H2. Adding premium cars will help add members and reduce the number of cars on the road.

There are plenty of luxury cars out there that are carsharing-friendly. Here are five cars that each get over 20 mpg in the city, cost $32k or less, and all but one has over 200 horsepower:

Lexus IS250

• Cost - $32k
• MPG City/Highway: 21/29
• 204hp V6 engine
• Standard feature highlights: 13 speaker sound system, leather seats, 10-way power front seats, sunroof, steering wheel audio controls

Acura TSX

• Cost - $29k(base), $32k(premium)
• MPG City/Highway: 21/30
• 201hp 4 cylinder
• Standard feature highlights: heated seats, power seats, moonroof, leather seats, steering wheel audio controls, Navigation with traffic(premium), 10 speaker sound system(premium)
• Note: It was redesigned for 2009, meaning you can appear ahead of the curve

Audi A4

• Cost - $31k
• MPG City/Highway: 21/30
• 200hp 4 cylinder
• Standard feature highlights: power seats, power lumbar support, moonroof, 10 speaker sound system, rear A/C vents, one-touch power windows

MINI Cooper - loaded

• Cost - $31k
• MPG City/Highway: 26/34
• 171hp turbo 4 cylinder
• Feature highlights(includes options in $31k price): Sunroof, auto climate control, heated seats, leather seats, rain sensor, premium sound, iPod adapter, and more
• Note: Sell this as a premium MINI, noting what you get with it, and it will gain a lot of fans

Audi A3

• Cost - $32k(nicely equipped)
• MPG City/Highway: 22/29
• 200hp 4 cylinder
• Feature highlights: heated seats and mirrors, iPod interface, dual sunroof, leather sport seats with power lumbar, AWD, dual-zone climate control
• Note: This wagon is great for being sporty as well as practical

Well, there you have it. I hope I changed at least someone’s mind in adding premium cars. They may cost more, but in the end, there are some that are carshare-friendly, and the extra price will pay for itself in the additional marketing and exposure you gain from a high end car. While smaller carshare organizations might not be able to afford these now, I feel that some, such as CityCarShare and I-GO, whom have none of these premium cars currently, should step up and add some sooner rather than later.

What do you think? Am I right or dead wrong? Discuss it in the forum.

Clayton Lane, AICP and Deputy Executive Director of PhillyCarShare, says that the Scion and Toyota will both be priced in their lowest tier. The Acura will be priced in its highest tier which currently has cars such as the BMW 328i and Lexus IS 250. All three models will only have a handful across the city, at least for now. Initial locations have not been announced yet.

On the subject of PhillyCarShare, Lane also confirmed that PCS signed up its 55,000th member this week. This comes shortly after news of their 50,000th member being signed up last month.

Oh, and no picture with this blogpost because Wordpress is being difficult.

What do you think? Good car choices or bad? Talk about it in the forum.

Flexcar, after the Zipcar merger but prior to the integration, pulled out of San Diego and LA, save for its revenue-guaranteed college locations, back in February. Between the two cities, it had about 800 members, and 40 cars in each city.

A lot has changed since then. Gas has shot up about 50% in the LA area(although it is starting to come down), the economy has soured a bit, and people are realizing they need to reign in costs.

Zipcar may be able to make a strong second showing and grow the market. This time, they can grow organically starting near the colleges where they have a memberbase established. Their X factor will be whether their previous members will come back to them; many of them may not want to be left high and dry a second time.

Does Zipcar have what it takes to return to LA? Respond in the forum.

(photo credit: Nserrano)

Mathematician and Zipster Tanya Khovanova offers a possible solution to the one-way carsharing problem:

Here’s how it would work. Suppose we have three cars currently assigned to the Mt Auburn/Homer Ave location. I suggest we name three as a desirable number, but actually allow from three to four cars to be assigned to this location at any particular time.

Now suppose I want to pick up a car at the Mt Auburn/Homer Ave location and to return it to the Somerville Ave/Beacon location. If the number of currently assigned cars to Mt Auburn/Homer Ave location is three (at the lower limit), the Zipcar reservation webpage tells me, “Sorry, you can’t use this location unless you return your car back here,” and shows me the closest location with extra cars. The same goes if the number of assigned cars at the Somerville Ave/Beacon location is at its upper limit. If my starting point has more cars assigned to it than its lowest limit and my destination point has fewer cars assigned to it than its upper limit, then I am allowed to take a car from my starting location and return it to my destination. Zipcar can throw in some financial incentives. If my choice disrupts the most desirable balance of car assignments, I have to pay a fee. If my choice restores the balance, I get a bonus discount.

So, essentially she thinks that cars can be moved around town, keeping a minimum and maximum number of cars at each location. When more cars are needed, the cost of a one-way trip to that location decreases, while if the max is already there, one-ways either won’t be allowed or will have a hefty premium.

There are many flaws to this, some of which she admits in a separate post. First and foremost, what happens if someone can’t make the one-way trip, and there are reservations at the new location that anticipate the car being there? What if a reservation is booked far in advance? This can only be done one type of car at a time, as someone who reserves a Prius hatchback and arrives to a Civic sedan would probably be ticked off. These are just some of the questions she addresses, but not satisfactorily in my mind.

A possible solution is to require roundtrips as they do today, but allow others to book a trip inside a roundtrip. This would be most beneficial to those who would use the car to drive to work. An example of this:

Joe works at CSW, inc., a company with 100 employees. He drives his carshare Prius to work everyday, and has to pay about $42/day to get it there and back, plus tax (current Zipcar Philly corporate rates for a part-day rental). He arrives at 9a and leaves at 5p.

Now, it is very uneconomical for him to do this, as it would cost about $12k/year just to go to work. Instead, He could reserve a ‘there and back’ rental, allowing him to pick the car up at his house location, drive, and drop it off at the location at work when he arrives at 9. When he locks the doors when he arrives at the work location, the car will become ‘available’ to the public, from that moment, until he reserved it to go home at 5p.

During this time, any other carshare member could reserve it and do a round-trip rental that would be deducted out of Joe’s rental-time. If Johnny Rocket has to drive to a meeting, he can take the car for two hours. If Chatty Cathy has a business lunch, she can borrow the car for 90 minutes. The secretary just ran out of copier paper, and needs to run to Staples before the boss notices, so she rents the car for 30 minutes.

For the 4 hours the car was used during the day, Joe gets that deducted from his rental time. So instead of renting the Prius for $42, he receives a $29 credit($7.25/hour x 4 hours) and only pays $13.

This wouldn’t work everywhere. The main location for it would be office complexes that already have ‘commuter mass transit’ to the area to get people in and out of the office, but would then need a car during the day. For someone who can’t take the bus or train to the office, this would offer a practical solution.

I thought about letting the person driving to and from the office only pay hourly rates and the carsharing company take the risk, but this way, it encourages the member to refer others in their office to join the carsharing outfit.

What do you think? Tell me your thoughts in our forum. (Guests can post there too; you don’t need to be a CarSharing World member)

The program is meant to show how people can cut the personal car out of their lives, save money, help the environment, and still be able to get around conveniently. Zipcar will be posting blogs and video from participants throughout the event at the site above for people at home to keep updated.

This is very similar to PhillyCarShare’s WalkRideShare event they ran in May. It would make sense too, seeing how that event was a success as well, according to ‘Dennis’, one of the participants:

In honor of the opportunity to speak on behalf of the residential participants, I did what anyone would do. I made a spreadsheet. Mayor Nutter has proven that nerds are cool, so I have no shame in saying that I love spreadsheets. I’m embracing my inner nerd.

My spreadsheet tells me that of 17 residential participants in the challenge, 5 of us have already, or are planning to, get rid of our cars.

Another 5 participants said that the Walk Ride Share Challenge has helped them to adopt habits that have caused them to postpone INDEFINITELY the purchase of their next car.

10 out of 17 isn’t bad at all. With those numbers, I think it is an excellent marketing tool, especially if the end results are promoted right. Let’s hope Zipcar can turn this event into a buzzmaker.

Are you going to take part in the diet this month? Let us know in the carsharing forum.

• 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:

• PhillyCarShare retired the last of its Beetle Convertibles this past week. The cars, the first of which joined PCS’ fleet in , are the first model to be fully phased out of the fleet(usually they will just have cars that hit the two-year mark be replaced by an updated model). Not to worry, PCS still has MINI convertibles, and Mazda Miata convertibles available to rent.

• HourCar is adding at least another 10 Toyota Priuses over the next two years to keep up with demand. The cars will be added thanks to a matching grant they received, and will be placed in new pods in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

• The Chicago Transit Authority is leasing I-GO and Zipcar 45 more parking spaces at “El” stops on various lines. The spots, which are being leased for a total of $88,000, will be placed between September 2008 and June 2009.