The 3 Next Best Things to a Free Car:

Rideshare/Carpooling/Car Share

“This is the UCLA Vanpool that I drive, parked at my house. I take a total of 11 people to UCLA and back to San Gabriel, which is about 60 miles round trip. The van is kept at my house overnight and over the weekends. I am allowed to use it for personal use also.

It is a GMC Savana 3500, which weighs 6 tons, seats 11, and has a 300HP Vortec V8 engine.

This van gets an average 12 MPG .. but for 11 people, thus taking 10 cars off the freeways and preventing the burning of an additional 42,500 gallons of gas a year (10 additional cars). All this, just from one vanpool.”

Rideshare and carpooling are very similar, although Rideshare can be local or long distance and cross country, whereas carpooling is localized. With gas prices being steadily driven upwards, there is a clear need to reduce costs of commuting so there has been a dramatic increase in carpooling and rideshare

Rideshare/Carpooling resources are virtually the same as the local government vanpool services.

Rideshare is great for:

Commuters/Recurring
Universities
Company carpool groups
Religious groups
Club meetings
Athletic teams

Also for events:

Concerts
Conventions
Sporting Events
Political Rallies
Long Distance Rideshare:
Can easily beat the price of Greyhound or Amtrak.

You can find rides for the shared price of tolls and fuels, sometimes a small additional fee or maybe no fee at all in exchange for your company on a long trip. There are free services where you can post a notice or search their database. Some offer incentives. Members using the service will earn points redeemable for gift cards at participating retailers and corporate sponsors (museums, sports stores, car washes, etc.)

Car Sharing Groups-For the Occasional Driver

Started in Europe in Switzerland in 1987, Germany in 1988, Quebec, Canada in 1993

In 2007, per Susan Sheehan of UCBerkeley there were 18 U. S. car sharing programs with 134,094 members sharing 3,637 vehicles

In Canada, there are 13 carsharing programs with 21,817 members sharing 994 cars

40% of users don’t buy a car or sell current car and drive 50% less
Each carshare car replaces over 15 privately owned vehicles
$5000 average savings per year

Carsharing is undergoing exponential growth

Business customers/companies use it as an alternative to fleets

Neighborhood car shares – great for housebound housewives

Eases pollution, traffic congestion, parking shortages, and expands mobility

Car Share locator tools available on Internet

One time application fee and annual membership

Those of us who are car-free still have an occasional need for wheels. Car-sharing can put you on the road for $8 an hour including gas, mileage and insurance. If you are going to need a vehicle for more than half a day, a rental will be more cost effective.

Car Ownership Costs    $769
Car payment with finance charge (incl. depreciation) $345
Insurance $80/Gas  $ 78/License, tax, registration  $45
Maintenance and tires $46/Parking  $175

Car Share
If you drive a lot   $304
(Several trips/wk, weekend trek to country,
(10 two-hour, 2 three-hour and 2 daily/24-hour reservations)

If you drive a fair amount  $158
(A couple of trips/wk, (6 two-hour, 2 four-hour reservations)

If you don’t drive much   $ 35
(About one trip per week or 4-one hour reservations)

Car Share How-To

Join/Apply online-you must be 21+/Receive your Card (ATM type card)
Reserve a car online or by phone
Walk to car, hold card to windshield, doors unlock
Drive away-then return to same reserved spot. Gas and insurance are included.

Links:

http://www.citycarshare.org/ SF and Bay Area

http://www.flexcar.com/ Flexcar (SF)

http://www.flexcar.com/ ZipCar (SF)

http://www.511.org 511.org