oesn’t it suck whenever an interview, doctor’s appointment, or meeting comes up, and it takes hours to get there because you are transferring from bus to bus for three hours? What about when that cab you called hasn’t showed up yet? You’re frantically hurrying in the morning to get ready so that you can reach the bus stop early in order to be on time for the appointment and you have no control over whether or not the bus will actually be on schedule or not. You end up being an hour and a half early or extremely late. This, in turn, causes you to either miss the appointment or get stuck having to pace around killing time, and just when you think couldn’t possibly get worse, it’s three degrees outside and there isn’t even a bench to sit on while you’re freezing your ass off.
All you can do is wonder, day after day, why you put yourself through this torturous act. But all you can come up with is the fact that it’s cheaper than taking a taxi, and you can’t find a reason for renting a car for a whole day. What if you could rent a car for just an hour at a rate that is cheaper than a cab in the long run and more economical than the most affordable rental? A solution is already being successfully implemented throughout the world. It’s nothing too original either, but soon enough it may be available in Buffalo—it’s called CarShare.
CarShare is a service that allows members to rent vehicles on an hourly basis. Adam Blair, a co-founder of CarShare and a junior environmental design major at UB, plans on establishing a Carshare in Buffalo. Buffalo’s CarShare will be initially funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) and the New York State Department of Transportation through a joint venture. Rented vehicles will run about five to eight dollars an hour with a $0.20 charge per mile driven. There is also a membership fee of five to 20 dollars depending on the frequency of your usage.
“Car sharing is a service designed for people who need to take occasional trips to destinations that are too far or too difficult to get to on foot, bike, or mass transit,” said Adam Blair. It also allows car-owners another option in selling their own vehicle in order to avoid the expenses of owning a car. CarShare will be a non-profit organization that was originally started in hopes of keeping non-essential cars off the road in order to contribute to the reduction of green house gases and fuel emissions.
Although there would not be pick-up or drop-off service available to those getting to and from CarShare, all of the locations will be within close proximity to Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority metro stations. CarShare plans to disperse between six and eight cars in different locations around downtown Buffalo. These locations will be referred to as “hubs” and shall be found in areas such as Allentown, Elmwood Village, the West Side, and possibly even University at Buffalo’s South Campus by the start of the Fall 2009 semester.
AAA says that it costs up to $8,000 a year to own a car with the estimated price of mileage to be about $0.71/mile. Car sharing in other locations have shown savings up to $4,000; it should also be noted that CarShare vehicles are some of the most fuel efficient cars on the market. The Toyota Prius and Yaris, Honda Fit, Chevy Aveo, the Smart Car, and other hybrid models are being rented to CarShare customers. Gretchen Nachtwey, Marketing Associate at City Carshare in San Francisco, California said their members average a yearly bill of only $600. Andy Rupp, a senior finance and international business major at UB likes the idea of saving money on fuel. “Sounds like a good idea to me,” says Rupp. “Especially in this age of variability of gas prices.” Gas costs are included in the membership fees, so fluctuations in fuel prices would not affect those with CarShare memberships. Buffalo CarShare also utilizes the membership fees toward the standard car maintenance, providing the oil changes and tune ups, thus eliminating the hassle from one’s every day life.
The insurance plan on the cars, which is included in the cost, will cover the same conditions that a personal insurance policy would, which includes both basic collision and personal injury. It will apply to every driver, although a slight different approach is taken to drivers between the ages of 18 and 21. If you are between these ages you must have a valid driver’s license for at least two years, have supplemental insurance, and have a clean driving record in order to be allowed to participate in CarShare. This set of conditions, in itself, is another advantage of CarShare because it may reduce the number of bad and irresponsible drivers on the streets.
A pre-launch celebration will be held sometime in late March 2009. Adam Blair says, “We have decided to hold this event for three reasons: To create publicity and get people excited about the new service that will be potentially available to all Buffalonians.” as well as to “kick off our membership drive,” to have some fun, and meet new people.
Though this does seem convenient, there are drawbacks to everything. In the heart of Buffalo winter, those who live several miles from the nearest NFTA metro station would be still need to find other transportation to get to and from their rented car. In this case, it might make more sense to continue with the original mode of transportation to reach their destination. UB student and senior management major Paul Choina comments that it is “completely useless and time consuming since you have to go out of your way to get the car.”
Another potential problem deals with the reliability of people. A customer’s obligation could take longer than originally expected, preventing them from returning the car on time for the next driver. This will cause the next customer to lose their time and money. If someone were to use CarShare to attend his or her wedding, court hearing, or niece’s Sweet 16, for example, a scenario like the aforementioned could really be an issue.
Buffalo CarShare’s website describes CarSharing as “a service that offers the piece-of-mind of the automobile without the up-front costs, hassles, or environmental impacts of private vehicle ownership.” Hopefully on those days when you really need to be somewhere, but have no one to help you out, you may be able to create your own solution with CarShare’s help.
