SOCIAL: CCS, Flexcar, Zipcar rates

[Manish Champsee]

Zipcar and Flexcar charge $50/year or about $4.17/month.  It would
seem that even though they are both for-profits and have no mileage
charge, that those not needing a car that much would save with zipcar
due to the lower administrative fee and those people driving more
frequently might be better served by citycarshare.

A quick look at some of my previous car share bills notes that I would
save on most trips with a zipcar plan before saving on the
administrative fee, though I'm probably the exception rather than the
rule.

As to zipcar having cars at Chevron..as I see it, much of the gas
being put into any vehicle is coming from places and sources we
probably don't want to think about, so I don't think that having cars
at Chevron makes much of a difference.

On 4/4/06, bk <brian.kusler at pobox.com> wrote:
> :) of course we do... and we're cuter, too! hee... i've been working
> here at city carshare for 3+ years and been a member for 4. a cuppla
> nuggets i should prolly add:
>
> - flex and zip both charge an annual fee. that should be pro-rated
> into the "monthly" category, imho.
> - please note that miles are NOT totally free with flex and zip. in
> the fine print, they both limit the total amount you can drive per
> day, so if you were thinking you could take a car to tahoe for $60 a
> day, think again.
>
> some other things to think about:
> - city carshare has an environmental mission: every mile you drive
> burns gas, so every mile costs. you've always got an incentive to
> drive less.
> - we also have a social mission: neither of our competitors offers
> programs for low-income people, nor do they have it in their mission
> to expand mobility to disadvantaged communities.
> - we are the only carshare to open up our records to allow an in-
> depth study of the effects of carsharing on people's driving habits.
> UC Berkeley's cervero study concluded that our members had saved over
> 1 million gallons of gas since our founding.
> - flexcar's major funder is steve case. in case you don't know his
> politics, do a google search... ( e.g.,  http://www.onlinepolicy.org/
> research/ospa/aolcasedonation.htm )
> - zipcar is funded by benchmark capital. VC's like bigbig returns on
> their $10 million. guess where that's going to come from?
> - zipcar worked to squash WalkBoston's grant for funding for starting
> up a non-profit carshare in boston, according to one of their special
> projects directors.
> - zipcar tried to sue city carshare for using green beetles (!)
>
> i have a zillion stories i could tell about cool stuff we do and the
> even cooler stuff our members do, but i'll spare you all :) or i'll
> write "carshare confidential" someday...
>
> so sign up! (if you use the promo code 1776 when you join, we'll even
> waive the application fee!)
>
> : b
>
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 4, 2006, at 6:19 PM, Paul Spinrad wrote:
>
> > I looked at the websites so you don't have to!  Here are price
> > comparisons
> > for City CarShare and local Flexcar and Zipcar franchises:
> >
> > City CarShare - citycarshare.org
> > Monthly: $10
> > Hourly: $4 (or $2, from 10pm to 10am)
> > Mileage: $0.44/mile
> >
> > Flexcar - flexcar.com
> > Monthly: $0 (or more, depending on plan)
> > Hourly: $9 (or down to $7.30, depending on plan)
> > Mileage: $0
> >
> > Zipcar - zipcar.com
> > Monthly: $0
> > Hourly: $8.50 (or down to $7.25, depending on plan)
> > Mileage: $0
> >
> > I like the no mileage thing, but CCS's per hour is way lower, so
> > that still
> > seems better for around town.  Normally I'd trust for-profit chains
> > to run
> > more efficiently and have better prices than a nonprofit, but
> > apparently in
> > this case it ain't necessarily so.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
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> >
> >
>
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