Zip Car

[voyager12]

Is a timeshare program and [url=http://www.zipcar.com/index] works on an honor system. Rates vary by city. UNC Chapel Hill has it and I can see it being sucessful in a dense campus setting. According to their website its "coming soon" to Atlanta. Perhaps in the future it could be an option for Charlotte.

[dubone]

I'm not sure whether it would work or not, but I like the idea.

I think a great aspect of it is that it helps to support transit and carpools. Many people won't take transit because they worry about the off chance that there is an emergency and they have to leave work to get somewhere quickly. Having zipcars available means that people can be comfortable that there will be a car in the emergency case where they must go somewhere.

I think there is less chance that people will use it as a reason to not own a car at all, though, which is how it is used in places like Chapel Hill.

[DigitalSky]

I don't think Charlotte's ready for Zipcar but I agree places like Chapel Hill would benifit most from it.

[fulcrumsf]

I like the idea, and I was actually going to join a service like this in San Francisco when I was living there. I do however think Charlotte would be a better fit in 5-10 years. And with the rates they charge, your better off getting a rent-a-car. I think that's why I never joined in the first place.

[monsoon]

They had something like this in Myrtle Beach a couple of years ago. It went out of business due to high insurance costs. In NC, liability for damages caused by the car are the responsibility of the owner of the car, not the driver.

[appatone]

And with the rates they charge, your better off getting a rent-a-car.

I wondered that. One NC town I can see this working in is Boone. Freshmen at ASU can't have cars on campus and even as an upperclassmen to get an on campus spot is tough. And if you do get an on campus spot its usually a pain in the butt walk to anywhere convenient on campus. To get to the off campus lots you have to wait for the bus system which is no fun at 17 degrees. And independently owned lots in downtown Boone are very expensive. I think if something like this were offered in downtown Boone many students would just opt not to bring a car with them to Boone when they go up for school (some already choose based on hassle and costs alone and that it's relatively easy to live in that town without one) and even the students with cars in Boone would choose to pay the charge instead of dealing with the hassle of catching the AppalCart (bus system) out to some remote lot. This system seems like it would work well in many college environments where having a car can be more of a hassle than it's worth. In Charlotte it's just too easy to have a car at your disposal anywhere for this to work here IMO.