CarSharing 2.0: Give Us Many Transportation Options (Please!)

Zipcar is such a brilliant concept. You reserve a car only when you need it, find one near you, and driving away is as easy as a swipe to the windshield. I'd like to see Zipcar and other car sharing services provide more types of transportation, designed to fit different needs at different costs.

Photo: Via Zipcar.

Say a multimodal approach to personal transport, so you can reserve everything from a folding bicycle to an electric bicycle to an electric golf cart to a small car to a medium car to a large car to a van to a moving truck. And hybrid or running on biodiesel, naturally.

Photo: Via Dallas News

Having easily-accessible transportation choices will allow us to mold our mode of transport to the task at hand. We pick the smallest vehicle that fits our needs -- and save money, hassle, and reduce emissions at the same time. Instead of one person jumping in a car to run an errand that is a few miles away, we could book an electric scooter, that is, if a bike doesn't do the job.

On a trip, this is especially helpful. We could easily pick up folding bikes or electric bikes bikes that are locked in a lot near our hotel. The system would be as easy as sending a text message or an email, and you won't have to worry about maintenance, or parking.

The goal for product service systems such as Zipcar is to create a service that is truly better than owning a product. At a certain point, it becomes a no-brainer...more options, less money and better for the environment. Let's hope that Zipcar and other car sharing companies are headed that way.

Do you find yourself using a big car or truck when something smaller would do the job? Would you book an electric bike or golf cart or folding bike to cut your carbon footprint? Comment below!

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Comments

[KenGirard]

What I have been asking for is an all electric car that has about 70 mile range.... maybe add on a small diesel powered generator (5-15hp) to recharge it while it sits at work, but it has to be a manually operated item so I can decide when to burn fuel, and when i'd rather wait to get home and plug in.

The couple of times a year I need to drive more then that in a single shot, I'll rent a gas burner.

[Russycle]

No generator yet, but these are pretty cool:
http://www.greenvehicles.com/

[Russycle]

Cool concept. Brad Templeton, chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has written a series of essays using this as a starting point and extrapolating out 20 years with robotics to revolutionize our transportation system. It's a long read but well worth it if you have some time:
http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/