Car Sharing / Rental (Car2Go, HourCar, etc.)

[mulad]

I'm pretty sure I'd commented on the fact that there was an oversupply of ForTwos in the U.S., though maybe someone else beat me to it. Does anyone know what a typical rental car's lifespan is like? I suspect it's pretty common for agencies to only keep them for about 3 years, then pawn them off onto the used car market and refresh the fleet, but I'm not sure about that. These ones probably haven't racked up the same number of miles as typical rental cars, since they're mostly used for urban trips, but they're probably seen more than their fair share of potholes compared to the average rental, and may have been a bit more damaged by salt and living outside on the street most of the time. The resale value is probably pretty bad for these cars, especially since there just hasn't been much of a market for them in the first place.

As for Uber, that 41% ratio of fares to costs puts it pretty close to public transit territory. The Green Line has about 36% farebox recovery, though that's relatively high. A lot of public transit agencies are in the high teens or mid-20s for farebox recovery. I think Metro Transit as a whole is a bit over 30%. Amtrak as a whole recovers about 80% of its operational costs through fares, though that's largely due to the big money they rake in on the Acela (arguably an overpriced service) -- the Empire Builder route covers about 45% of its costs through fares, from what I've been able to determine from their fiscal 2015 data.

I presume Uber is trying to be a lot like Amazon by running these big losses -- they're trying to build up their network possible while also undercutting the competition as much as they can.

[John21]

Car2Go and gone: Legislation aims to lure more car-sharing services to TC

Now a bill introduced at the Legislature would exempt car-sharing firms like Car2Go from paying motor vehicle rental taxes and fees in Minnesota. If the bill passes, its supporters hope Car2Go would come back to the Twin Cities or its competitors would enter the market.

[intercomnut]

HOURCAR plans to launch one-way, hub-based car sharing and make its fleet all-electric by 2020.

HOURCAR announces partnership with Xcel

[MNdible]

It would be nice to get Car2Go back. The hub-based system seems pretty limiting.

[Bakken2016]

Car2Go and gone: Legislation aims to lure more car-sharing services to TC

Now a bill introduced at the Legislature would exempt car-sharing firms like Car2Go from paying motor vehicle rental taxes and fees in Minnesota. If the bill passes, its supporters hope Car2Go would come back to the Twin Cities or its competitors would enter the market.

Anyone know any update on this bill?

[mamundsen]

HOURCAR plans to launch one-way, hub-based car sharing and make its fleet all-electric by 2020.

HOURCAR announces partnership with Xcel

I'm wondering where the hubs would be. Would there be a way to redistribute from a hub when too many cars all end up in the burbs or downtown?

[SurlyLHT]

Sounds like Nice Ride for cars.

[amiller92]

It would be nice to get Car2Go back. The hub-based system seems pretty limiting.

I've never understood how Car2Go can ever actually work unless it was somehow so affordable to provide the marginal car that they could be literally everywhere.

Meanwhile, it's weird to me that the city center is so far behind with services like this. By the time I left DC (which is getting to be a long time ago by now), walking a couple of blocks and picking up a Zip Car was a completely feasible way to deal with the periodic need for a car in a city in which you could mostly walk or take transit. I actually looked for HourCar or similar services near our condo building and thought about getting rid of my car. Might have actually gone through with it had there been a nearby station (and actually wished we had one at our building).

Really, while we're reducing and eliminating parking minimums, we should also be encouraging this type of service in and near the new downtown towers and anywhere else we think people can primarily live without a car of their own.

[mattaudio]

My guess is the fact that Uber and Lyft offer a chauffer for approximately the same cost as Car2Go charged to drive oneself has something to do with Car2Go's decline... Yet that doesn't explain why they can still coexist with Uber and Lyft in other cities.

[tmart]

My guess is the fact that Uber and Lyft offer a chauffer for approximately the same cost as Car2Go charged to drive oneself has something to do with Car2Go's decline... Yet that doesn't explain why they can still coexist with Uber and Lyft in other cities.

In Montreal, where Communauto is quite popular and Car2Go exists as well, I think they serve different niches. Uber has replaced taxis for a lot of people, but there are still personal car tasks you do where you wouldn't necessarily take a taxi. Things like a trip to IKEA or Costco (where you wouldn't necessarily be able to load everything into an Uber), or a multi-stop shopping trip where you would want to leave a car parked at each stop, or heading out of the city for a few hours for a hike.

[PhilmerPhil]

For a majority of my trips, I found car2go to be significantly cheaper than Uber/Lyft.