CAR SHARING TREND GROWS AS URBAN DWELLERS SEEK INEXPENSIVE
ALTERNATIVE TO THE HIGH PRICE OF VEHICLE OWNERSHIP
By Steve Wright
With rates starting at $4.45 per hour plus 25 cents per mile and a fleet of 250 vehicles ranging from super fuel-efficient hybrids to trucks for hauling large items, PhillyCarShare is one of the most successful nonprofit car sharing organizations in the U.S.
In addition to individual consumers, PhillyCarShare has developed a substantial business clientele, with more than 1,200 businesses using the pay-by-the-hour service.
“Several large Realtors in the Philadelphia area use PhillyCarShare” PhillyCarShare Executive Director Gerald A. Furgione said. “They use them for picking up clients, for doing business. They also show people newly moving to the city that they can have access to a car without making car payments, insurance, paying for garaging, maintenance, gas and parking.”
Like most car sharing firms, PhillyCarShare has worked with the city of Philadelphia to get reserved on-street and garage spaces for their vehicles at a nominal price.
The various vehicles are near transit stations and areas of high urban density.
“People can park our cars closer to their house (in reserved car sharing spaces) than they could find a spot for their own car,” Furgione said. “They save money and find they can buy more house. They also cut down an emissions and go green – which is very important to many city residents and all of us.”
PhillyCarShare also has worked with more than 100 local merchants to provide its members with discounts at everything from comedy clubs and restaurants to hair salons, lawyers and accountants. Furgione said well-marked spaces and logos on cars are just a part of the marketing for the growing trend.
“We partnered with city of Philadelphia with a major program that helped them reduce their fleet cars by giving city employees access to PhillyCarShare cars,’’ Furgione said. “The city reduced its municipal fleet by 330 cars and saved more than $6 million over a four-year period. Now several cities are following that lead.”
TOMORROW: Ken Rub, Washington D.C.
Wright frequently writes about Smart Growth and sustainable communities. He recently participated in the prestigious Forum on Land and the Built Environment: The Reinvented City sponsored by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com
