The car sharing idea.. what are your thoughts on this?

[withers]

I'm not sure if other states are the same but in Melbourne, car sharing organisations and their cars are popping up all over the place!

 

So I was curious as to if any of you guys were using them or know people that do use them?   And what do you all think of this as an idea?

 

I can see a place for this in my own life... this could be a great way for me to own that classic 911 and have access to a car for those times I wouldn't want to use it (or maybe couldn't because it was off the road for whatever reason)

 

For those of you who maybe don't know what I'm talking about  Flexicar is one of the original companies, I've linked to their rates page. Below is an example of their signage on their vehicles.. maybe you saw one of these cars and had no idea what it was.

 

[hugh]

It seems like a great idea, nice touch that they also get reserved car spaces in the city.

[tazzieman]

Could work if you don't mind driving something "beige". I'd prefer the excitement of a train , tram , bus , bike or foot.

[withers]

Could work if you don't mind driving something "beige". I'd prefer the excitement of a train , tram , bus , bike or foot.

 

Beige is fine in some circumstances!  I catch PT every day so I'm not against that either

[Harvs11]

vote in a government with the will to build a proper public transport network coupled with a decent road system and all these new ideas become redundant.

 

(I know it's political but I think it's appropriate)

[Coastr]

vote in a government with the will to build a proper public transport network coupled with a decent road system and all these new ideas become redundant.

 

(I know it's political but I think it's appropriate)

 

Public transport is an 19th century approach to moving people about and correlates badly with point to point trips that people make now.  It works well for very high density, high population cities because of the concentration of people means there is a much higher number of people wanting to make the same trip.  There is some scope for better public transport in very small areas of Australia but this is at odds with the private ownership of most of the property in those same areas, which forces underground solutions, which fail every cost/benefit test applied.   While some overland services are being still built, these inevitably run well over time and budget and usually don't bring in the predicted amount of passengers, because of the catch-22 of not being frequent enough to match peoples travel intentions, and therefore not paying well enough to justify more services.

 

The coming approach of efficient driverless cars is the right direction to look instead.  These correlate with desired trips much better, can be powered by zero local emissions technology and reduce the need for parking density as they can be sent away to park themselves and requested back.  With a mix of private and shared ownership, the amount of essentially idle vehicles would be reduced and the implementation can be integrated slowly using the existing infrastructure.  While congestion would probably get worse, real time information about trip times could be generated by embedded trackers in a portion of the vehicles, so that accurate minute-to-minute trip length prediction could be done.    

 

A further possible improvement (with political will) would be the increasing of the level required to gain a drivers licence, so that poor drivers would find it difficult to obtain and retain their license.  This, coupled with increasing power of the software, would mean that the accident rate would decline, leaving more people alive and less traffic jams from accidents.  It is the 21st century answer to personal mobility and happily the solution applies equally to big cities and regional towns and tiny hamlets and requires virtually no public funding save for changes in the legislation, registration and licensing laws.

 

Anyway, back onto the topic at hand, a friend of mine in Sydney uses one of these shared car services and he finds it quite good and has survived 2 years without owning a car.  He only uses it for the odd shopping trip or journey to the other side of town.

[Airhead]

I’m into this car sharing thing already.

 

‘She Who Likes to Drive fast’ and I share our Porsches. We are ALWAYS fighting over the keys to see who’s gunna drive whenever we go anywhere.

[withers]

vote in a government with the will to build a proper public transport network coupled with a decent road system and all these new ideas become redundant.

 

(I know it's political but I think it's appropriate)

 

I still don't think 'sharing' of any nature is redundant.  There is always going to be plenty of reasons to need to use a car occasionally regardless of the PT and road systems made available to us.

 

For example my family live in a rural area, one that does not have a population that is large enough to warrant a PT system.

 

 

Public transport is an 19th century approach to moving people about and correlates badly with point to point trips that people make now.  It works well for very high density, high population cities because of the concentration of people means there is a much higher number of people wanting to make the same trip.  There is some scope for better public transport in very small areas of Australia but this is at odds with the private ownership of most of the property in those same areas, which forces underground solutions, which fail every cost/benefit test applied.   While some overland services are being still built, these inevitably run well over time and budget and usually don't bring in the predicted amount of passengers, because of the catch-22 of not being frequent enough to match peoples travel intentions, and therefore not paying well enough to justify more services.

 

The coming approach of efficient driverless cars is the right direction to look instead.  These correlate with desired trips much better, can be powered by zero local emissions technology and reduce the need for parking density as they can be sent away to park themselves and requested back.  With a mix of private and shared ownership, the amount of essentially idle vehicles would be reduced and the implementation can be integrated slowly using the existing infrastructure.  While congestion would probably get worse, real time information about trip times could be generated by embedded trackers in a portion of the vehicles, so that accurate minute-to-minute trip length prediction could be done.    

 

A further possible improvement (with political will) would be the increasing of the level required to gain a drivers licence, so that poor drivers would find it difficult to obtain and retain their license.  This, coupled with increasing power of the software, would mean that the accident rate would decline, leaving more people alive and less traffic jams from accidents.  It is the 21st century answer to personal mobility and happily the solution applies equally to big cities and regional towns and tiny hamlets and requires virtually no public funding save for changes in the legislation, registration and licensing laws.

 

Anyway, back onto the topic at hand, a friend of mine in Sydney uses one of these shared car services and he finds it quite good and has survived 2 years without owning a car.  He only uses it for the odd shopping trip or journey to the other side of town.

 

You make some good points there Coastr.  Your friend seems to be getting good use out of this as a system and probably saving a lot of $ on reg/insurance/maintenance/tyres blah blah blah - he's the winner in this situation.

 

As a society I think in general, we need to be better at sharing rather than buying...  did you know the average cordless or corded electric drill in the USA is used for a total of 15 minutes in its entire life? 

[hugh]

I too spend more time on a bike or train than my car but somedays you need a car - for those days I think this is a good idea!

 

For alot of people inner city owing a car comes with parking, insurance, rego $$$ etc. This is a good option for those who require a car for the odd "need a car occasions".......................

[withers]

I too spend more time on a bike or train than my car but somedays you need a car - for those days I think this is a good idea!

 

For alot of people inner city owing a car comes with parking, insurance, rego $$$ etc. This is a good option for those who require a car for the odd "need a car occasions".......................

 

I agree Hugh.  Selfishly, I see this as a way of my owning that 1976ish 911 I really want... ie I'll have another option for days like yesterday when I wouldn't want to swelter in the heat in my car!  No reg, no ins.. no maintenance.... and lets face it, less cars on the road is a good thing.

 

Even if i wasn't getting a 911, this is still a good option for me.  Not even a 10min walk from my home I'll have access to a car. Rest of the time  I'll walk around or ride a bike too.

[hugh]

I know there are alot of bike haters out there but I dont believe there is anything better. Fast, clean, healthy and not mention one less car.

 

Not enough bikes I say! I love this quote from HG Wells:

 

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race"

[withers]

I know there are alot of bike haters out there but I dont believe there is anything better. Fast, clean, healthy and not mention one less car.

 

Not enough bikes I say! I love this quote from HG Wells:

 

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race"

 

If everyone was more patient and tolerant, there'd be no hate for bikes!  (cyclists are included in that too, like with everything a few badies bring the goodies down)

 

Theres so much great cycling infrastructure happening in Melbourne these days... its a good place to be. I'm still too scared to ride on the roads tho.

[Harvs11]

Coastr makes some good arguments there which I am not going to refute. The basis for my comment was increasing frustration at being funneled into an underdone toll way to get to my place of work. I would happily use public transport or cycle to work if it was at all comparable to driving time. As it is, it takes on average 3 times as long to use PT. as drive my car.

On the occasions when I need to detour from the work - home journey having the car is just about essential. If it was available then a share system has merits. But only if the regular PT options were viable.

I can see that car sharing would work in a high density city where there were cars available within easy walking distance.

In our more isolated regions cars are the only real transport solution. Even just venturing out of the cities, again the car comes into its own.

Ideally, I would PT to work, car share for occasional short trips and have just the 911 for the SMT's.

[teknostar]

Great post Coastr.

 

Call me a snob, but - I prefer my own car. I could not think of anything worse sharing a car with the masses...

 

The idea of having to book a car before being able to head to the garage is not for me

 

Also driving one of the shared cars (make and model) instead of my 911 is not a great proposition either IMO...

 

I have a few friends who have given up their cars in the interest of cost saving, and not having to store it when not in use. They originally intended to use a shared car whenever they had need. What has eventuated is that their friends all have to drive them around, and for all but the most planned and long unavoidable journeys, it is too much trouble to actually organise a flexi car etc.