I'm an upper east side New Yorker (10029, bordering 10128 and 10028 -- Mount Sinai Hospital area). What do you current members in my area think of Zipcar? I'm partial to sharing as a concept, but this is New York, where systems that work elsewhere tend to break down. 10024, 10025 (west side) members' opinions are welcome, too. Of concern to me are issues like: Short notice use for weekday vs. weekend (the spontaneity factor). Have your expectations been met? How long have you been a member? Are you an original New York member? Does a particular use pattern work better than others? Have you ever considered quitting Zipcar? If so, why? Any comment would be appreciated.

Robert Mentken (212) 534-5101

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2003

Answers

Robert I am in the 10024 area and have been very pleased with zipcar. I have been a member for just under a year. I have always had one of the 3 cars nearby avable when I have needed it. The price is comprable to a major rental car company. I do find the lack of lines and the abality to return the car without haveing to find a gas station to be some of the major pluses. I say by all means join it is a great way to go.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2003

I am in 10025, at West 96th St, and have been a member since April 2003. I'm lucky -- there is a zipcar parked around the block from me. When I owned a car, it was less conveniently parked!

A farther-away zipcar was useful one weekend day when there seemed to be no regular rental cars available in Manhattan at short notice.

I've been very happy with Zipcar. My start-up questions and glitches were handled very intelligently and pleasantly by the Member Services people.

My usage pattern is erratic. Some months, I've hardly used zipcar at all. Last month, I used it almost daily for a week. So I chose the "$75 a year, no monthly minimum" membership. It's worth it for the flexibility.

Zipcar was most useful to me in August, when there was no day camp bus available to my son for a week. I reserved the nearest zipcar for 90 minutes each morning (even though I expected to need only a hour), then made a daily quick round-trip down the West Side Highway to drop my son at Chelsea Piers (W 23th just off the highway.) It saved me lots of time, and was more reliable than trying to catch a cab during the morning rush hour. But zipcar would not have been as helpful in the afternoon, when I had errands to run in areas with little affordable parking. Mass transit was generally far more economical then.

Given the fee structure in NYC, if I need a car for 10 hours, say, to go snowboarding in Vernon, NJ, it is more economical to rent a car elsewhere (I like Aamcar or Avis) for a day.

However, sometimes the convenience of zipcar is paramount. One weekend day, I had a picnic scheduled in Queens, at Cunningham Park. Normally, I'd go by public transportation (2-3 transfers), and read on the long subway portion. But that morning, I was running late, and feeling poorly. On a whim, as I was turning off my computer to leave, I checked the zipcar website, and the zipcar 'round the corner was available. Talk about spontaneity! Using the zipcar greatly decreased the transportation time, and was a lively topic of conversation that afternoon. The hourly charges mounted up as the picnic went on, but that day, it was worth it.

I wish that the zipcar could be returned to a different zipcar space, but it seems there aren't enough members yet for that model to work.

A zipcar in the Mount Sinai area (say, at 100th and Fifth Ave) would be wonderful for me. A friend of mine is having chemotherapy there, and I'd love to sometimes drive her home afterward. The car would probably be useful for medical interns and nurses as well.

By the way, there is (or was) a useful zipcar trial-period membership that helped me evaluate whether to join. Alexis

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2003

Space swapping among cars is a logistics problem more than a question of scale. This is why Boston, with well over 100 cars, doesn't do it. Perhaps a modified website which could advertise when one member was wanting another car to swap with would work, but it would then run into the problem that different models would rotate through a given space. It is something that Zipcar is looking into for inter-city one way travel, but for intra-city use it is harder to justify.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2003