Comments on: Car sharing gains traction with urban drivers http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2010/02/21/car-sharing-gains-traction-with-urban-drivers/ Trends, happenings and innovations in the clean technology market Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:28:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Amanda http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2010/02/21/car-sharing-gains-traction-with-urban-drivers/comment-page-1/#comment-9576 Amanda Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:33:06 +0000 http://www.cleanbreak.ca/?p=2153#comment-9576 My best friend and I owned a car together for several years. We would alternate, each of us having it for a week at a time. Cut our insurance and maintenance fees in half. It worked really well, and I never missed having the car the week it was with her -- I could always arrange my life so that out of town trips, major grocery shops, etc. took place on the week I had the car. It worked so well that we sold that car and got another one together! Private car-ownership deals can be very successfull if undertaken with a good friend or relative whom you can trust, and if you discuss in advance things like what will happen if there is an accident (luckily, we never had this happen). Even though it was just two of us sharing, we still felt good knowing that we were taking one more car off the road -- without impacting our lifetyle greatly, to boot. I think that this would work with up to 3 people quite well. My best friend and I owned a car together for several years. We would alternate, each of us having it for a week at a time. Cut our insurance and maintenance fees in half. It worked really well, and I never missed having the car the week it was with her — I could always arrange my life so that out of town trips, major grocery shops, etc. took place on the week I had the car. It worked so well that we sold that car and got another one together!

Private car-ownership deals can be very successfull if undertaken with a good friend or relative whom you can trust, and if you discuss in advance things like what will happen if there is an accident (luckily, we never had this happen).

Even though it was just two of us sharing, we still felt good knowing that we were taking one more car off the road — without impacting our lifetyle greatly, to boot. I think that this would work with up to 3 people quite well.

]]> By: Eric Childs http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2010/02/21/car-sharing-gains-traction-with-urban-drivers/comment-page-1/#comment-9570 Eric Childs Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:43:02 +0000 http://www.cleanbreak.ca/?p=2153#comment-9570 My whole family was astonished when my sister--once the most car-dependent of all the siblings--got a job in a new city, sold her suburban house and moved her family into an apartment building downtown. They also sold their car and signed up for a car-sharing scheme. It was all meant to be temporary, but it's been over 5 years now: they're still in the same apartment, and they've only recently bought a car. My sister and her husband were the last people you'd expect to see car-sharing, but clearly it suited them so well that they stuck with it for years longer than intended. (No doubt this is partly down to moving into a compact, walkable urban neighbourhood.) Yes, they eventually wound up getting a car. But imagine if every young couple delays buying a car for just 3, 4 or 5 years: how many vehicles would that take off the road? My whole family was astonished when my sister–once the most car-dependent of all the siblings–got a job in a new city, sold her suburban house and moved her family into an apartment building downtown. They also sold their car and signed up for a car-sharing scheme. It was all meant to be temporary, but it’s been over 5 years now: they’re still in the same apartment, and they’ve only recently bought a car.

My sister and her husband were the last people you’d expect to see car-sharing, but clearly it suited them so well that they stuck with it for years longer than intended. (No doubt this is partly down to moving into a compact, walkable urban neighbourhood.)

Yes, they eventually wound up getting a car. But imagine if every young couple delays buying a car for just 3, 4 or 5 years: how many vehicles would that take off the road?

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