Comments on: CHEAT SHEET: How Green Are City Car-Sharing Networks?

By: Zipcar IPO Update: Lawsuit Dismissed, Streetcar Still on Hold

Zipcar IPO Update: Lawsuit Dismissed, Streetcar Still on Hold — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:03:06 +0000

[...] centers, GPS, mobile networks and other communication tools to provide mobility as a service. The “green” aspect of car sharing services like Zipcar stems from their potential to serve as an early testing ground for cleaner vehicles, and their [...]

By: Zipcar IPO: Car-Sharing Heavyweight Files to Raise $75M

Zipcar IPO: Car-Sharing Heavyweight Files to Raise $75M — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:34:03 +0000

[...] “green” aspect of a car sharing service like Zipcar stems from their potential to serve as an early testing ground for cleaner vehicles, and their [...]

By: What the iPad Could Mean for Connected Cars & Greener Transit

What the iPad Could Mean for Connected Cars & Greener Transit — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:38:54 +0000

[...] that offer alternatives to personal vehicle ownership — from transit agencies to nonprofit car- and bike-sharing networks to a for-profit company like Zipcar with its 6,000 vehicles and 350,000 [...]

By: CC

CC — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:10:31 +0000

I have been a member of Streetcar for 6 months until this week. It’s all nice and easy until…

You receive an e-mail stating there was a damage to the car after you left it.

I am being charged 860 pounds for a significant damage which was not on the car when I left it. Customer Services Team is useless, you can never speak to a Manager, they never call you back when you ask them to. They don’t care anyway as they just take the money from your credit card !

Many more customers have suffered unjustified charges! be careful for 860 pounds you can buy a second hand car.

Do not subscribe ! it could become the most expensive trip ever !!

A journalist wrote about it as well: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/6417262/Do-car-clubs-save-you-money.html

By: Anita

Anita — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:41:49 +0000

Kudos to you for pointing out that there are differences in car-types among car share providers. As a City CarShare representative, I’d like to point out that the differences are notable. For example, a third party study by UC Berkeley was done on usage behavior among City CarShare members in the Bay Area. One of the factors determining the results of this study focused on fuel economy and emissions.

Based on this study, we have calculated that 80,000 fewer miles are driven each day, saving 1.8 million gallons of gasoline this year. Collectively, 35 million fewer pounds of CO2 are emitted this year as well. All of our cars are fuel efficient with low emissions ratings because we care about the impact of our members’ usage (and yes, it saves us money.) Thirty-three percent of City CarShare’s fleet is comprised of hybrids and we have 2 plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, one in San Francisco and one in Berkeley.

To find a list of more providers please go to http://www.carsharing.ca/

-Thanks for sharing!

By: Federico Flego

Federico Flego — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:16:35 +0000

The problem is when they “help themselves with your bank account” as you can read here:

http://streetcarsucks.co.uk

And have a look to Streetcar strange policies here:

http://www.watchoutstreetcar.co.uk

Cheers,

Federico

By: Josie Garthwaite

Josie Garthwaite — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:14:38 +0000

@whatup – I agree with your first point that one of the big environmental gains with car-sharing is that people tend to drive less when they use these services. And sure, fuel economy is one of several factors in the overall impact of these fleets, but it’s not irrelevant.

By: whatup

whatup — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:45:31 +0000

the key is that if you use these services rather than owning a car you will drive less and think twice before driving rather than taking your bike or transit.

Fuel economy of the cars is somewhat irrelavent.

By: What to read on the GigaOM network

What to read on the GigaOM network — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:31:46 +0000

[...] Edit Staff | Tuesday, August 18, 2009 | 9:31 AM PT | 0 comments Cheat Sheet: How green are city car-sharing networks? (Earth2Tech) Lessons Learned: Felicia Day on combining music videos and web series (NewTeeVee) [...]