Moved from NYC to the Bay Area, and would love to have ZipCar out here. Any chance that's in the works?

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2004

Answers

FlexCar has been in the bay area for a while now, and is doing well. I would much rather see this than for ZipCar and FlexCar to go head-to-head and loose their profitability (and go belly-up). Until more Americans can divorce themselves from the addiction to owning vehicles, car-share programs are going to be thinly spread.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2004

There's also a large organization in San Francisco called City CarShare, and it has an interesting and different pricing structure from Zipcar (and the similar Flexcar plans). Their hourly cost is much lower, only $4 an hour. But they have a high mileage cost, 44 cents per mile, no "free" miles, and a $10 a month membership charge.

If you'd like to compare the costs, their website is http://www.citycarshare.org . Personally I like the Zipcar pricing structure better. I tend to drive 50-100 miles when I get a Zipcar, and I'd rather not be staring at the odometer all the time as if I were in a taxi. But, City CarShare has its advantages if you're going to drive to a nearby destination and end up parking for a few hours.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2004

CityCarShare.org is a non-profit organization with local funding, and as such is not really to be compared with ZipCar, a for profit business. That said, when Zipcar Started, they had a pricing structure that was far more similar to CityCarShare, with 5-6$/hr rates, plus mileage. This is more in keeping with the actual costs of fuel, oil, tires, etcetera, but ZipCar decided to change its profit model. I have been discussing this change with the other ZipCar members I know, and they all agree that ZipCar made the wrong decision. People should be more concerned about their speed (you are over 10 times more likely to die behind the wheel than all other causes combined) than squeezing every last penny from their trip cost, anyway. Remember that the average cost of owning a car is several times what even a busy ZipCar member pays currently.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2004