The car you have when you don't have a car
It's no secret that Christine and I are poor. So much so that even if we wanted to, there's no way we could even think of owning a car, even a rusty old bomb. And that's okay most of the time: our trusty bikes and good ol' MAX get us most of the places we need to go.
However, sometimes you just need a car. What else can you do when you're moving large objects from one place to the other, or have too much shopping to carry home on our bikes or public transport (and believe me, we've tried on the bikes and have almost broken our backs!)? That's when the truly brilliant Flexcar comes to the rescue. Cars are left in dedicated parking spots all over Portland (and many other cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, LA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Fran and Seattle) and members simply reserve them for the hours they need them.
From there, it's just a matter of walking up to the car (our nearest one is two blocks away), swiping a security card over a reader mounted inside the windshield to unlock the car, getting the key and driving away! Gas is included in the hourly rate, which can be as low as $6/hour, although $10 is more usual. All you have to do is fill the car up if it's 3/4 empty (using the supplied fleet card) and maybe wash the car if it's dirty, then return the car to its original parking space before your time expires. It's a brilliantly simple idea, and one which is growing in popularity, especially in progressive cities like Portland.
It's nor meant to replace traditional rental cars: you can't keep the car out of its spot overnight, and driving it more than 150 miles incurs additional fees, but it is fantastic for people who only need a car rarely... people like us!
Posted in: chaosboy, portland, united states on November 15, 2007 at at 4:49:00 PM
Hi C&C
funnily enough an article in the Sunday paper here today about this in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane by a fellow who picked up the idea in San Francisco. Called Go Get at $4.40 an hour, they now have 15,000 members.