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Dear PhillyCarShare:
I love you. I do. And I extol your virtues to anyone who asks. You're socially responsible. Your customer service is second-to-none. You sponsor events throughout the city. You've got these guys. What's not to love?
Perhaps some of your customers. The kind who don't really know how to drive all that well and end up banging up one of your cars but not reporting it. The kind who leave the cars dirty, or with just barely the minimum amount of gas allowed, so that the next person in the car has to be sure to fill up. The kind who think it's okay to park an Element behind a Mini, so that the next person who's got the Mini reserved must first call you and get permission to move the Element, and then has to re-park the Element before being able to leave the parking lot. We appreciate how nice you are and all, but people are assholes, and they're taking advantage of you.
And so now, whenever there's anything even a little screwy with your system, I've come to assume it's some asshole's fault, rather than your own. Case in point: a lot that's very convenient for me has two cars in it: a Prius and a Miata. I've looked longingly at the Miata on more than one occasion, but it's simply not a practical car to take to the grocery store – and it also costs about twice as much. Only problem is, the Prius is never listed as available, even when it's sitting in the lot. After a few weeks of noticing this, I became convinced that some asshole was using the car as his own personal vehicle, keeping it checked out day and night, just in case. I wrote you about it. It's called PhillyCarShare after all.
Unsurprisingly, you responded:
Thanks for your message about availability at [redacted]. I looked at upcoming reservation and there is a maintenance reservation from yesterday until December 7th, due to a mechanical problem with the vehicle. There’s also a member who uses the car on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for doctor’s appointments. I apologize for the time that the Prius will be unavailable, but it will be back soon!
Now who's the asshole? That's right. Me.
But... I might not have engaged in such assholic behavior if, instead of listing the car as perpetually unavailable, you'd just put a label over it saying: "Sorry, this Prius is unavailable until December 7 due to a mechanical problem." Or if you had a few back-up cars in your fleet with which you could replace the cars that are unavailable due to maintenance. Because let's face it, guys: the people looking for a Prius to take to Trader Joe's aren't going to say to themselves: "Guess I'll just take the Miata instead."
Not unless they're looking to fit, in your words, "a night on the town," rather than a few cases of bottled water, into the trunk.
Image via Flickr user dmuth.
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