A Flexible Friend

I am often asked (especially by media types) the following question: “Don’t you ever miss not owning a car? Don’t you miss the spontaneity, the flexibility of just being able to jump in a car and drive off?” To which my (truthful) answer is, “hardly ever.” Behavioural economics says that human beings tend to value a loss at twice as much as a gain – so ‘losing’ something (a car) needs to be offset by double the benefits. We find that the loss – an occasional bit of flexibility and spontaneity – is more than offset by the gains – being thinner, fitter, having more money etc. But yesterday was one of those occasional days when we needed some flexibility: we were going to visit a friend in a distant part of the city, it was rather cold, and very wet. Getting on and off the bus with our loaded bags didn’t appeal. If there had been a car parked outside, we would have used it. But hold on. Around the corner there is a car. It’s a carclub car (a Zipcar, formerly Streetcar). So we got on the web at 2pm, booked the car for 3.00-6.30pm, and used it for our visit. Pretty spontaneous. Our flexible friend, a Zipcar VW Golf, cost us £17.50 (including petrol). Way cheaper than a taxi. Particularly when you use it to do some shopping on the way back. And the best bit of all? When we’d finished with our Zipcar, we put it back where we’d started, and walked away. Freedom without responsibility. (picture from Zipcar)

A Streetcar Named Golf

I’m prepared to admit it: when it comes to cars, I’m not pure. I’m a pragmatist. There are times when only a car will get you to where you need to go, and yesterday was one of them. I needed to be in a location that was about seven miles from where I live, but that was, bizarrely, impossible to reach by public transport, and, being accessed via the A23 dual carriageway, ill-advised by bike. So I needed a car. And I don’t own one. So, two choices: one, a taxi. Very expensive for this kind of out-of-town round trip. Or two, hire a car. As I only needed it for a few hours, I got on the Streetcar website and booked a VW Golf for £5.95 an hour including petrol.

At the appointed hour, I walked for a few minutes to the car’s parking spot, and placed my Streetcard against the car’s windscreen-mounted electronics box. Doors unlocked, I logged in with my pin number, fired up the engine, and set off. At the end of the hire, I parked the car and ran the sequence in reverse. Then I walked away from the car: a free man once more!

Streetcar and Zipcar join forces

Interesting news from the world of car clubs today, as Streetcar is acquired by Zipcar. The deal brings together the largest car club in the US and the fastest-growing car club in Europe. They say that it will bring about a global fleet and a shared vision “to make transport smarter.” Amen to that. Streetcar members will get access to a wider variety of cars, and when the transition is complete, the ability to access cars across Zipcar's network in the US and Canada. With more than 400,000 members, there will be more vehicles, a greater variety of hybrid and other green cars, and more locations. Streetcar will disappear, as the companies will ultimately operate under the Zipcar brand. Streetcar was launched in April 2004, and currently has a presence in more than 1,100 locations across eight cities, including London, Brighton, Cambridge, Southampton, Guildford, Maidstone, Oxford and Bristol.  Zipcar has 360,000 members in urban areas and college campuses throughout 28 North American states and provinces and Europe, and offers more than 30 makes and models of self-service vehicles. Wearing my economist’s hat, the thought occurs that buying up the competition can be a classic way for companies to grow their market without the hard slog of organic growth. And for this type of business, size really does matter: the economies of scale from a bigger operation should be good news for the cost base – and, hopefully, prices. Wearing my carfree customer’s hat, the prospect of getting access to more vehicles in more locations, with the promise of more rapid growth in the future, looks pretty attractive.