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In
1999, Americans owned 220 million cars, trucks, and motorcycles—about 33
million more vehicles than licensed drivers.
In 1998, American households spent $663 billion on their motor
vehicles. For the average
family, this works out to about $6,200 per year, mostly in fixed costs
like insurance, vehicle purchase, taxes and fees.
To save money, some households move to transit-rich, bicycle and
pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods so that they can reduce the number of
cars they own. But for many households, living car-free just isn’t an
option. And they still have
to pay through the nose just to own their cars, regardless of whether they
drive them a lot or a little because most costs are fixed.
In
several cities, a revolutionary new concept is attempting to address those
inefficiencies. Car-sharing
allows many people to share a single car, split the costs, and avoid the
hassles of maintenance. Most
operations charge members a minimal annual fee, and then charge by the
hour, the mile, or both when the car is used.
Over 1,000 Americans are members of car sharing programs across the
country, and this number is growing every day.
Car-Sharing as a New Form of ITS
While the concept of car sharing is rather simple,
the logistics of managing and maintaining a fleet of cars and making sure
that the vehicles are available when members want them are tricky.
In most cases, car sharing requires a relatively sophisticated
reservation system, entry system, and tracking system to determine how far
and for how long cars have been driven.
Car-sharing employs several new technologies including advanced
key-less entry, Internet-based reservations, and advanced
telecommunications for sending data on car use back to the central
computer.
Through
technological innovation, car-sharing has the potential to reduce
congestion, improve air quality, and free-up parking spaces. Studies of European car-sharing programs have found that one
shared vehicle can replace four to eight privately-owned vehicles, and
that members typically reduce car usage by as much as thirty percent.
Because it provides the convenience of a private auto without the
cost of ownership and maintenance, car-sharing can also be a real money
saver. Members of CarSharing
Portland estimate that they save an average of $154 per month in
transportation costs compared to private auto ownership.
Over the course of a year, that adds up to more than $1,800.
City CarShare
San Francisco’s City CarShare was founded by a
group of transit activists and planners in 1999.
That same year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted
unanimously to support City CarShare as an alternative to auto-dependence. Since its launch on March 1, 2001, City CarShare has enrolled
350 members and has fifteen vehicles in five locations throughout the
city.
City CarShare members use the Internet to reserve a
car. An on-line calendar
tells them where, when, and for how long cars are available.
Once they have a reservation, members can stroll down to their
neighborhood City CarShare parking lot, unlock the car with a special key
“fob”, and drive off. The
key fob uniquely identifies members and works with an on-board computer to
record the distance and duration of their trip.
At the end of the trip, City CarShare members return
the vehicle to the lot. A
transmitting box in the parking space retrieves mileage from the odometer,
when the car is returned. The
box transmits that information back to City CarShare’s home computer
which automatically updates members’ accounts.
At the end of the month, the database automatically generates bills
for each member.
Some
70,000 people belong to car-sharing programs in 500 European cities.
Elizabeth Sullivan, executive director of San Francisco’s City
CarShare notes that if new car-sharing businesses proliferate across
America, shared cars may one day “make the private auto an urban
relic.”
Elizabeth
Sullivan and Tony Pecore, both of City CarShare, contributed to this
article.
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