Community Car a smart move for consumers, environment

by Ryan Greenfield

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 00:00

It has always seemed to me as if saving money and saving the environment were mutually exclusive activities. If you want to help preserve the planet for future generations, you have to either buy organic or fair-trade food for an extra dollar or two per pound, plant your own garden or buy locally grown produce. And definitely stock up on spiral fluorescent light bulbs — don’t laugh, apparently you save money on your energy bill. Still, it’s pretty difficult to live an environmentally-sustainable lifestyle on a college student’s budget.

But with car sharing, you can have the best of both worlds. This concept, started in Europe in the 1970s and ’80s, and appearing in force in the United States just 10 years ago, allows those who only need cars very sporadically to not have to own one. While this is only practical in fairly dense urban areas with lots of walkable streets and public transportation options, Madison fits the bill and more people should be taking advantage of the opportunity.

We all know the expenses that come with owning a car. The expected costs of monthly payments, gasoline, insurance and parking can often add up to more than your monthly rent. Add in the unexpected expenses of flat tires, mid-highway breakdowns and accidental collisions that can make your insurance premiums skyrocket, and you could be broke faster than you can say “ramen.”

With gas prices that seem to only get higher, now is the time for as many people as possible to break their addiction to cars. And Madison could definitely use a little less traffic on the streets.

Community Car is a nonprofit organization in Madison launched in 2003 that has placed energy-efficient cars in parking lots all over the city for anyone who has signed up for the program to use. Personally, I live near campus, so nearly everything I need is within walking or biking distance. For most other destinations, like doctor’s appointments, I can take the bus. But if I need to get groceries or go on a Target run, errands that are very inconvenient to do via bus since you can only carry so many bags, Community Car is the way to go.

Why is Community Car such a good deal you may ask? Because of all the things you don’t have to worry about. The company pays for gas, insurance, parking and cleaning. You simply sign up online for a car at a given time and use your keycard to unlock the car when your time arrives. You pay for every hour that you use the car and mileage basically doesn’t matter unless you’re driving long distances. You generally pay somewhere between $7-10 per hour, which is comparable to national rates of for-profit car sharing firms like Zipcar. There are student discounts available as well, but note that you can generally only sign up if your driving record is solid.

There are some annoying drawbacks to the Community Car service, which are likely unavoidable. First, the cars aren’t always available when and where you want them. But you can generally find at least a car or two that are available near you when you want them. Further, your trips can often take longer than you planned, yet you don’t have the convenience of bringing the car back whenever you feel like it. Generally you can call the Community Car hotline and extend your appointment unless there is someone scheduled right after your allotted time.

I had a problem with Community Car service a few weeks ago; some might even call it a mini-crisis. But the way it was handled by the staff at Community Car proves my point about what a great service it is. I had gone to Woodman’s to pick up some groceries. When I finished and put my groceries in the car, I was unable to shift my Toyota Prius into reverse (this is done electronically on that model rather than with a manual gear). While this was an inconvenience in terms of time, all I had to do was wait for the tow-truck. I don’t blame Community Car — cars inevitably break down from time to time. But I was comforted by the fact that it wasn’t my responsibility to resolve the problem as if it had been my own car that broke down.

Obviously this is never going to be an attractive service for the kind of person who needs to commute to work every day. Since you pay for the use of the car by time, it’s necessarily expensive if your car is going to be sitting in place for hours. Still, college campuses and urban areas in general have many residents who only need a car for occasional trips. If this is you, consider ditching your car and getting signed up for Community Car.

Ryan Greenfield (rgreenfield@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in political science and economics. He also has no personal investment in Community Car.