Chris Balish: How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life
We love this book! Chris Balish provides readers with practical, every-day tips on how to go car-lite or even car-free. We wish we'd written this book ourselves, but it somehow rings much more true coming from this self-described "mainstream" guy. NOW AVAILABLE in a Special Arlington, VA Edition! (*****)
Mark Ovenden: Transit Maps of the World
If you like maps and you're a transit fan then you'll love this new collection of transit system maps from around the world. Includes rare and historic maps, diagrams and photographs. Beautiful and fun. (***)
Our friend Neil Takemoto always seems to have the hot leads on his wonderful Cool Town Studios blog. Here's another: Next Gen 'Leave It Anywhere Carsharing', March 27, 2009.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter ServicesChief for Arlington County in the Transportation Division of the Department of Environmental Services, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is hosting one of it's regular forums on Tuesday, September 23 on one of our favorite topics: Carsharing. The event is entitled "Getting from A to B, with a Stop at Z: Carsharing in the DC Region" and is being held at the National Capital Planning Commission (401 9th Street N.W.) from 6 to 8 pm.
From the forum description:
"Ever think how cool it is that carsharing has grown so much in recent years, and wonder what made it happen? Carsharing is connected to so many key issues from global climate change to parking regulations. Join the Coalition for Smarter Growth to discuss the whys and hows of the carsharing boom and how all those Mini Coopers and Priuses are affecting our region. Speakers include Ellice Perez, Regional Vice President for Zipcar in D.C., as well as Anna McLaughlin, TDM Coordinator for the District Department of Transportation, and Chris Hamilton, Chief, Arlington County Commuter Services."
The event is free and they ask that you RSVP. Hope to see you there!
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
In a story out of the Associated Press this week (Paris Eyes Electric Car Sharing Plan, July 28, 2008, by Gaelle Faure) we learn that Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who brought the wildly successful 16,000 count, 200,000 member Velib' bikesharing service to his City, wants to bring carsharing to his City too. And he wants to start with 4,000 electric vehicles no less. Program start in 2009/10. We love this guy!
And the name? Autolib' of course. The service will be run by the City. The plan has it's critics who don't want to see any car use encouraged. But we know that studies show that carsharing actually cuts car use, increases the use of options like transit and encourages people to get rid of cars or forgo buying them altogether. That's exactly what program advocates want - to discourage Parisians who don't have vehicles from even thinking of buying one.
This is one mayor who knows how to fight traffic and pollution.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
I'm a Zipcar member for occasional use; it's one of the options that helps our family of four get along with a single car. Unfortunately, the closest Zipcars are 1-2 miles from my house, so I can't easily walk to get one. However, I can quickly bike to get one, which was what I did yesterday, when I needed to transport my daughter to her friend's pool (my wife had our car with her at her work).
I rode my bike to Ballston, locked my bike to the pole (see photo), picked up the Zipcar, "zipped" back home to get her, took her to her friend's, returned the car, biked home, realized I'd left my phone in the car, biked back, got the phone, biked home again. Okay, the last part was a bit of a pain, but I can only blame my own brain fart for that.
I've looked around on the web and haven't readily found other examples of how Arlington coordinates the bike parking with the carsharing. Note in the photo that I've locked my bike right to the Zipcar pole. The pole incorporates a bike rack directly into it. Now that is convenient. Good job.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident, cyclist, Zipcar user, Metro rider. . .
Two recent business magazine articles about Zipcar indicate that what started as a little green carshare company has become the industry's dominant national company.
The Fast Company article (Zipcar Makes the Leap, by Alex Frankel, February 14, 2008) shares that Zipcar has 180,000 members in 50 cities with revenues of $50 million a year. Next step an IPO, 2 million customers and $1 billion in revenue. Fast Company tells us that part of Zipcar's success has been soft-selling the green benefits in favor of the total experience. Another ingredient of success has been the college market. With Zipcar now on 70 campuses nation-wide, when students graduate and migrate to urban areas they are already predisposed to the concept. Fast Company also says that traditional car-rental companies have taken note of Zipcar's success and have started hourly rental in some select cities. Is Zipcar worried? Nah. Zipcar's CEO says that by positioning themselves as the Whole Foods of carsharing, the rental-car companies end up being grocery stores that add an aisle or two of natural foods. In the end, he believes Zipcar has too big a head start in technology and customer service to be concerned.
The Inc. Magazine article (How Fast Can This Thing Go, Anyway? by Stephanie Clifford, March 2008) is the cover story and quite extensive. The article's subtitle says "Zipcar was a classic founder-run company--long on passion, short on cash. Until a new CEO came aboard, gave the business a seven-step tune up, and put the pedal to the metal." The author thus traces the rise of the company with the story of how Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, who was brought in at the beginning of 2003 -four years after the company was founded and had begun experiencing growing pains - implemented a seven-point strategy for turning a great idea into a thriving company. And so far it has worked. His seven points:
The future for Zipcar looks bright. We just met with Ellice Perez, General Manager of the Washington, D.C. regional office and came away impressed with the way they've handled the merger (Is Carshare Merger a Sign of Progress, November 1, 2007) of the two companies in our area and with their plans for the future. Ms. Perez has built a solid local team. Now with information from Inc. Magazine we know that she's got the backing and support from a great corporate culture. So the future of carsharing in our area looks very bright too.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
35,000 Philly Carshare members may make it so. The December issue of Philadelphia magazine features a wonderfully fun and informative in-depth article (Good To Go, by Jason Fagone, December 2007; Philadelphia Magazine) on the history of what is now, according to their web site, the "world's largest regional carsharing organization."
On October 5th Philly Carshare signed up member # 30,000. In October they signed up a record 4,000 new members and they are now over 35,000. And 10,000 of these members have given up their cars. Now that's success! How'd they do it?
Author Jason Fagone takes readers on an odyssey that begins in 2002 with five co-founders, $25,000 in start-up funds and a dream. In the beginning the pitch was heavy on the environment and civic benefits. But the pitch shifted to bottom line wallet concerns and everyone saw the light. The City, the Parking Authority and SEPTA (the City's transit agency) all got on board. The city even got rid of 330 cars and started saving $7 million a year as a result. Philly Carshare management now believes they could someday get to a million members. That's the number of people in the region who don't commute by car, minus the number of people who live in neighborhoods too sprawled-out to support carshare. To get there, Philly Carshare is on a mission to rapidly expand and put cars in every neighborhood.
They want to make it mainstream. Says the founders, "It's cheap. It's there. It works. Simple." What Philly Carshare aspires to is a low-key ubiquity. Let's wish our friends in Philly continued success and let's hope that the newly combined Zipcar/Flexcar merger in our area can meet with similar success. We'll all be winners if it does.
Picture at top: Philly Carshare founders Tanya Seaman and Clayton Lane with the Key to the City of Philadelphia.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
Just in time for the holidays, two of our favorite organizations have teamed up to help you go car-free. According to our friends at Car-Free DC, if you go car-free by donating your car to WABA (Washington Area Bicyclist Association) before December 15 you'll not only receive a tax deduction equal to the auction sales prices of your vehicle, but you'll receive a free lifetime Zipcar membership and $100 in driving credits. Do this by Thursday, November 29 and you'll receive $500 in Zipcar credits. How cool is that? Zipcar and WABA. What a great combo. For information call 888-ZIP-GIVE.
If you aren't able to donate a car, you can still find ways to go car-free or car-lite by visiting Arlington's Car-Free Diet for tips.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
I suppose one can look at the merger of Flexcar and Zipcar into one company as a sign of progress and the success of carsharing. But I sure liked the fact that in the D.C. area we had two companies to choose from. We were spoiled. But the times, they are a changin.
We learned of the merger in Wednesday morning's Washington Post (Zipcar and Flexcar Driven Together, October 31, 2007; Thomas Heath) and subsequent emails and press releases from Flex and Zip distributed to their customers the same day.
The companies, who will merge under the name Zipcar with their corporate headquarters residing in Zipcar's home of Boston (Flexcar was born and based in Seattle), said "The merger will be a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts." According to the press release, members in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. - the only two cities where the companies have gone head to head - will have the advantage of "access to a larger fleet of cars." Let's hope it's true. If the companies here won't be getting rid of cars, that could indeed be good news. We'll likely have to wait and see how things fall out.
One thing is for sure. Carsharing is alive and well in our region, especially in Arlington and parts of Washington, D.C. where the local governments are giving it support. Arlington Carshare is up to 101 Flex and Zip cars stationed at our bright orange carsharing poles. 
Our March 2006 Carshare Study told us that 5% of Arlington residents in our Metrorail corridors were carshare members and that carsharing had allowed them to reduce their vehicle ownership rates and miles of travel while increasing transit use and walking. The net effect being a decrease in the need for parking in these areas and an increase in the quality of life. The Council of Governments is about to conduct a regional carsharing study as a follow-up to the 2006 Arlington report and should be reporting back on the results in a few months. I'm sure it will show even more progress.
Let's wish the folks at the newly combined Zipcar much luck and success with their merger. They've certainly added a lot to our transportation mix and our community.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
Flexcar will be adding 31 new vehicles to its Arlington fleet over the next few months, nearly doubling the size of its presence in the County. The majority of carshare vehicles will be located along the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor where the presence of significant transit service and bike lanes has made living car-lite and car-free easy. Additionally, Flexcars will be placed in Crystal City, on Columbia Pike, and in Shirlington. The new carsharing poles will include a bike rack to encourage cycling to the reserved on-street carsharing parking spaces.
With the new Flexcars in place, Arlington will have 103 carsharing vehicles and be one of the biggest carsharing programs in the nation.
by Paul DeMaio, Arlington Carshare Program Manager and frequent carsharer
Happy anniversary to me! It's been one year since I decided to go car-free. After having thought about it for many years, I finally made it happen one year ago when my car began to have expensive mechanical problems. I donated it to WAMU thanks to their vehicle donation program and they even picked it up and took it off my hands. (As Staples would say, "That was easy.") In addition, I got a nice tax write-off for it. Cha-ching! Thanks, Uncle Sam. Now that's an encouragement to go car-free if I've ever heard of one.
So is car-sharing or car-ownership cheaper? Well, my expenses for car-sharing over the past year was much less than I was spending on auto insurance alone! I was expecting to save money, but not this much. (Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind saving money for nice vacations and nights out on the town.) Forget about all those other expenses like gas, maintenance (oy!), and vehicle registration (not to mention the frustration and time wasted that go along with maintaining a car) that I had also been dealing with.
I was already a member of both Flexcar and Zipcar even though I had never used either. Now that I was car-free I tried both companies to compare. My analysis: both are great and it's nice having a selection of vehicles to choose from when I need one.
While my driving expenses have drastically dropped because I drive less, I do bike, walk, and take transit more often. Many of the trips which I used to make by car, I now take transit. The trip will likely take longer, but it's not a problem with a good book, my National Geographic subscription, or a companion. My transit expenses have gone up, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to what filling up a car costs at $3/gallon. I should have gone car-free a lot sooner.
So as Year Two of being car-free begins, I'm doing my part to help prevent global warming and putting the money saved into the bank.
