NEWS

Sharing a Zipcar Gets You Wheels By the Hour

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 21, 2008
By Jamie Gumbrecht

Jim Hackler gets into a Zipcar near the Southern Co. building. He is a member of Zipcar, a car-sharing program that charges a membership fee and an hourly rate to use cars. Hackler uses a card to gain entry to the car.

Jim Hackler, a nature-loving high-rise dweller with a streak of hippie behind his Ray-Bans, had to get to Your DeKalb Farmers Market in Decatur one day this month. But he didn’t attempt to bike the eight miles through traffic, to haul shrimp and wine on the bus and train, or to find a friend with an open schedule and a need for freshly ground peanut butter.
Instead, he hopped into a car, a Toyota Prius parked a few blocks away from his condo, hit the market and a few other errands, then parked it and headed home.

But Hackler doesn’t own a car; he shares the ones he drives with a few hundred-thousand other drivers. The Prius he used belongs to Zipcar, an international car-sharing company whose members literally pay as they go.
It’s not exactly a replacement for a car, and it’s not a rental car, users say. In the Atlanta area, it’s one of several short-term shared cars parked near MARTA train stations, Atlantic Station’s Ikea store, city office towers and universities. The greatest concentrations of cars in Atlanta are around Georgia Tech and Emory. One lone car is located outside the Perimeter, a Honda Civic Hybrid parked in Sandy Springs.

Hackler and other users don’t pay for gas or insurance — just a membership fee and the hourly rate for the time he’s in it. He never worries if there’s a ding in the door or mud on the paint — someone else will fix it. And he likes the logo the cars sport, that knowing nod he gets from other drivers, the questions people ask him in parking lots.

“I really enjoy not owning a car,” said Hackler, a 47-year-old journalist and son of a former General Motors executive. “This was a very elegant solution. You can only fit so many groceries on the back of a bike.”

A TWO-YEAR TEST DRIVE

Atlantans have been car sharing for two years this month. It started here with Flexcar, a Seattle-based car-sharing company that merged with Cambridge, Mass.-based Zipcar last year. These days, 70 cars — Honda Civics and Elements, Toyota Priuses and Matrixes, convertible Mini Coopers, pickups and a minivan — are parked at 50 locations in the city, and the car-sharing business is booming.

Zipcar representatives wouldn’t say how many Atlanta members it has, but the company reports its national membership is on pace to grow to more than 300,000 this year — an 80 percent increase over 2007. High gas prices, increased intown development and greater environmental awareness all contribute to its expansion.

Still, Zipcar doesn’t expect to make a profit until 2009. A few hundred-thousand users is a small chunk of the 2 million people ages 21 and older that the University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center estimated are in the car-sharing market. And that was way back in 2005, before gas hit $4 per gallon. Of the 35 car-sharing services that opened in the United States since 1997, 15 have closed. The biggest reason: funding deficits and staffing needs, said Susan Shaheen, the research director at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center.

And for all of car sharing’s money-saving, community-building, green-living qualities, it’s tough for people to give up quick access to their own cars.

Can it possibly work in Atlanta, a place that’s a punch line to every traffic joke?
“The cars are going to be here because we want them to be,” said Adele Clements, Emory University’s director of transportation. “I think it’s working for Emory.”

Clements says car sharing survives in Atlanta because of commuters. Emory plans to have 25 percent of its faculty and staff using bikes, vanpools and public transportation by 2015. Those commuters get access to reduced-rate car sharing for daytime doctor’s appointments, off-site meetings or sick-kid-in-the-principal’s-office emergencies.

And once some drivers start sharing, they never go back to their car payment and gas-pump pain. A Zipcar survey showed that 28 percent of car owners got rid of a vehicle after they started car sharing, and 62 percent said they delayed or halted a car purchase.
“What we have is early adoption — college kids, freshmen that are starting school without a car because they can’t have one,” said Liz Wattenberg, the general manager of Zipcar in Atlanta. “They’re no longer looking at buying a car after graduation.”

UPSIDES, DOWNSIDES

As a computer science student at Georgia Tech, Scott Ehardt realized it cost more to park his van on campus than to share a car. He got more creative with public transportation, biking and walking, used Zipcar’s pickup to haul heavy loads and smaller cars for fun and groceries.

The only downside: counting driving time in dollars.

“I couldn’t decide to stay somewhere longer,” said Ehardt, now 23 and graduated. “You have this time limit hanging over you the whole time.”

He recently bought a Toyota Prius that he uses, along with public transportation, to commute from Midtown to Alpharetta. Still, he says, he would go car-free in the future if his work situation changed.

Hackler, the grocery shopper, says he notices that the cars closest to his condo are booked more often these days, which could be annoying if it weren’t encouraging to him. (Zipcar is constantly shuffling the locations of its fleet to accommodate its drivers, it says.)
He skips the gym in favor of his bike, makes extra cash by renting his condo’s parking space and actually enjoys driving when he does hit the road on those special occasions when he needs a car.

“I want it to succeed,” Hackler said. “If Zipcar wasn’t available, I can pretty much guarantee I would own a car. We pay a huge premium for that ridiculous convenience, and it would just be sitting there all the time.”

CAR SHARING: PROS AND CONS

Pros

• Pay by the hour — no monthly payments for car, insurance, gas, maintenance and parking.
• Zipcar members can access cars in Atlanta and other cities for an hour or a few days at a time.
• No washing required — the company cleans and maintains the vehicles.
• Access the car you want. Atlanta’s fleet has small cars, hybrids, convertible Mini Coopers, pickups and a minivan.
• Great for business lunches, errands and day trips, especially for commuters using alternative transportation.

Cons

• No car in your driveway 24 hours a day.
• Traditional rental car might be cheaper, depending on day rates or distance to be traveled.
• Other members might have hairy pets or a cigarette habit.
• The set-up might not feel familiar when you slip into the driver’s seat, and the car you want might not even be available. Best to reserve ahead if you need something special.
• Not great for daily commutes from the ‘burbs; cars must be returned to their starting points.

HOW CAR SHARING WORKS

Various car-sharing companies and nonprofits have different systems for reservations and payments. In Atlanta, drivers can access Zipcar, a nationwide car-sharing company with 70 vehicles parked in metro Atlanta. Here’s how Zipcar works.

Register. Online at www.zipcar.com. There’s a $25 application fee and yearly or monthly fees, depending on you plan. Drivers must be at least 21, except students at Georgia Tech, Emory and Agnes Scott, who must be at least 18 and can only access campus-area cars. Members must have a valid license for at least one year, and driving history can affect eligibility.

Reserve. Once you’re approved and receive a Zipcard, you can reserve a car online or by phone. Cars can be reserved months or minutes ahead. Rates depend on your membership plan, but they range from about $7 to $13 per hour.

Pick up. At your reservation time, locate your car (or call Zipcar if it’s not there). Hold your card to the box on the windshield. It will unlock the door throughout your reservation; the key will be inside.

Drive on. A gas card hangs in the visor. You’ll need your Zipcard number and the vehicle mileage for it to work. Insurance information is in the glove box. If you get a ticket, let Zipcar know before the cops do, or there could be additional fines. Accident? Call as soon as possible; there is a $500 damage fee.

Return the car. To the space where you picked it up. Make sure the gas tank is at least one-quarter full. If you’re running late, call Zipcar to extend the reservation. There’s a $50 penalty for returning a car late without calling, and expect to hear about it if you leave the car messy.