March 26, 2008
Zip It
For more than five years, Philadelphians have been ditching their own cars in favor of those owned by PhillyCarShare. The program's fleet of sedans, hybrids (which comprise more than 50% of the fleet), convertibles, and pick-up trucks has provided the right wheels for the job for thousands of part-time drivers in our fair city. Each car shared by PhillyCarShare members replaces about 23 individually-owned vehicles. The company itself has become a much-loved local success story and a tireless champion of green living.
Enter Zipcar, a national company that also aims to convince drivers to exchange their Hondas and Fords for communal keys. We've got no problem with their mission; after all, fewer cars on our streets mean less time spent circling the block in search of parking, right? Plus, given the propensity of our fellow city-dwellers to eschew auto insurance, it's nice to know that more of those on the road are insured.
But PhillyCarShare has been having just such an effect here for the last half decade. And in that time, they've also introduced such innovative programs as totally free memberships, eligibility for 18-year-old drivers, child seats, free rides on rail transit, flexible reservation searches, and a debit billing system that enabled even the lowest-income households to join. They also have the densest car-sharing network in North America, with car-sharing pods on every Center City block. Through it all, they've remained a nonprofit company dedicated to grassroots environmentalism.
So who needs Zipcar? Sure, a little healthy competition usually benefits consumers, especially when it comes to pricing. But we find it beyond offensive when a publicist sends out a press release stating that "Zipcar—the world's largest car sharing company—is coming to Philadelphia to lay the smack down on PhillyCarShare." Wait: let us get this straight. A national, for-profit corporation is breezing into town to wage war on a popular, homegrown nonprofit and we're supposed to jump up and cheer? Don't the corporate bosses at Zipcar know that Philly is fiercely loyal to its underdogs? We're interested to see how this all plays out, but for the record, we're rooting for the home team.
Image via Flickr user SqueakyMarmot.
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Is it bad that when I first saw a zipcar parking space my first thought was "fuck them"?
Not at all. :)
The interesting thing about all of this is that Zipcar bought FlexCar, who, when they came to Philly, made it very clear that they were NOT PCS's competition because they're for profit and PCS isn't.
I hope PCS runs ZipCar right out of town. Competition is one thing, but no reason to be a bunch of jerks about it.
Goodluck PhillyCarShare, kick those nogoodnick SOBs in the arse and send them packing!
Zipcar recently descended on Toronto (and I wrote a comparison article on Torontoist), which ruffled a lot of people's feathers because the multi-city American company was instantly competing with the local homegrown car sharing co-op, AutoShare. AutoShare instantly had older cars, less dramatic technology, and wasn't able to make fat deals with the big parking lot conglomerates to get some really key spaces.
Since then, I'm not sure how the companies are doing, but Zipcar is quite a bit more expensive and AutoShare seems to still be doing well. They have slightly different offerings from each other, vehicle wise—for example, AutoShare has minivans with the seats removed, while Zipcar has pickup trucks.