Car-sharing defined
During the past few months as we've been spreading the word about CarShare Vermont, we've frequently been asked: "Oh yea, car-sharing, isn't that like ridesharing?" The short answer is no, not really. The long answer is that car-sharing is uniquely different from ridesharing and other transportation options, such as carpooling, taxis, and car rentals, for several distinct reasons. Read on if you'd like to find out more, including a bit of history on the origins of car-sharing.
Car-sharing is a transportation innovation that originated in Switzerland (where people like to share) in the late 1980s and made its way to the U.S. about ten years later. Today there are 20 or so car-sharing operators in North America boasting over 250,000 members and counting! The idea behind car-sharing is simple: a group of people have access to a pool of cars that they share. Some car-share operators use fancy technology (like CarShare Vermont) that facilitates automated reservations and allows the vehicles to track mileage, for example, while others outfit cars with pens and paper for members to manually self-report their usage in trip logs. Regardless of how each organization facilitates the sharing, car-sharing services generally have four common characteristics.
First, the vehicles that are part of a car-sharing organization's fleet are shared by a defined group of users, usually called "members." This means not just anyone can jump into a car with a moment's notice and drive off, but only the people who meet certain eligibility requirements, apply for, and are granted membership with the organization. You have to become a member of CarShare Vermont to use our cars, which basically means you need to meet certain eligibility requirements based primarily on your driving history and record. We hope to have many, many members!
Second, the vehicles are self-accessible 24 hours a day, which means members of the organization can access them where they are parked without having to check them in or out with a live person. In this way, car-sharing is distinct from car rentals, which usually require traveling to a centralized location and filling out paperwork for each rental. Also, the members need to pick up and drive the vehicles themselves, as opposed to a taxi service. This aspect of car-sharing offers members both convenience and freedom.
Third, car-sharing vehicles usually comprise a decentralized network, as opposed to all of the vehicles in the fleet being parked at one central location. The vehicles are parked near where the car-sharing members live and work, where they are easily accessible. They can be parked on the street, in a garage or parking lot, or even in a privately owned driveway.
Finally, car-sharing emphasizes short-term use of vehicles for defined periods of time (specified by the member in advance when making a reservation). The variable rate structure of many car-sharing organizations (for example, CarShare Vermont charges by the hour and the mile) also encourages members to only drive as much as they need and only pay for how much they drive. In other words, members who travel short distances locally (e.g. grocery shopping) are not subsidizing the longer trips taken by members who travel greater distances (as would be the case if we only charged a flat hourly rate and not for mileage).
We hope this helps clear up any confusion about where car-sharing fits into the mix of transportation alternatives mentioned above. And we hope you'll agree that all of these options really complement each other because they support a practical shift away from car-dependence, especially when paired with our most favored modes of walking, biking, and riding the bus.
