Car sharing for the masses

Picture this: you live in a bustling, overcrowded city apartment. There are no car spaces and on-street car parking is at a premium. Owning a car is not really an option. You don't like motorcycles either.

What do you do?

Well, if you live in Ulm, Germany or Austin, Texas, you join car2go, which gives you access to a fleet of ultra-compact two-seater smart fortwo vehicles, which can be used on one-way trips and at a moment's notice.

Daimler, the owner of Mercedes-Benz and smart, rolled out the car2go plan in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008 and has just launched its second operation in Austin Texas.

According to Daimler, the system has been well received in Germany and Austin will be the North American car2go pilot project and headquarters. The idea sounds simple enough: 200 smart fortwo vehicles are prepped for customer use in the city, and can be used any time of the day or night, seven days a week.

Members submit a one-time registration and "can use the service on the spot by accessing any available vehicle on the street, or can book in advance through the online reservation process."

Interestingly, members can use the cars for as long as they like "without committing to a specific return time" and one-way trips are fair game too. The going rate is charged by the minute, like a phone call, instead of distance travelled.

"Nobody could really imagine the US -- and especially Texas -- would be then the next step forward," said Herbert Kohler about the American pilot project, pointedly noting the American predilection for private transport, where car2go could best be described as a self-service taxi system.

Kohler, Chief Environment Officer for Mercedes-Benz, spoke to the Carsales Network about car2go at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September. Overseeing the company's Group Research & Advanced Engineering, e-drive and Future Mobility research, Kohler is very closely involved with the car2go project, and expects the Austin experiment to yield the same 10 per cent take-up as the previously established car2go trial in Ulm.

Daimler claims that the 200 smart fortwo city cars are rented between 500 and 1000 times per day, and are used by around 15,000 customers, 90 per cent of whom use car2go spontaneously, without booking in advance, and for one-way trips.

"The City of Austin is committed to identifying and implementing solutions to address the challenges associated with urban growth, mobility and environmental sustainability," said Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

"This pilot-program partnership between car2go and the City of Austin represents a significant step toward helping us alleviate congestion, reduce emissions and increase the use of public transportation."

For the North American pilot, pick up and drop off areas will be limited to specific parts of downtown Austin. Users of the car2go program don't have to pay for parking meters as "car2go is paying a usage fee to the City of Austin in the form of free driving minutes for employees driving on City business".

"Facilitating innovative transportation solutions is integral to the City of Austin's goal of becoming the best-managed city in America," said City Manager Marc Ott. "By promoting large-scale car sharing, we can help address mobility challenges in and around our urban core, ultimately reducing the burden on city center traffic and parking."

Images: Daimler Media