Jeff Bailey writes about carsharing,
and it being critical to solving the problem of mass-transit. First, and foremost, I do agree
with that.
(compared to say, India :-)), the “if it costs me ten minutes more to get there, I’d rather
go by car” is quite apparent. That’s not to say that people don’t go by train, they do. Usually
though, trains during rush hours are pretty packed. Getting a 1st class ticket solves that in
most cases, it makes the difference between getting a place to sit, and often enables you to do
some work on the train. Or take a nap which is hardly possible in an overcrowded train. So there’s Greenwheels, a car sharing
company that manages to get quite some coverage over the
whole country. Taking part in this programme costs between 12.50 EUR and 25 EUR so it is quite
cheap not to use the car. Those cars (small Peugeots) are usually near to a train station, making
combined journeys easy. In most cities, you also find one within a short footwalk. There’s three
cars here within 10 minutes walk, one of them just around the corner. I’ve been using this for
more than a year now, and my impressions are really good. If you need a car quickly, it’s usually
available, but it makes you think twice whether to actually go by car and not by bike. I don’t
really like driving (worked as a courier for some time after school, so I’ve seen enough of it)
but those shopping visits some time make it useful. I get to use the car once a month, roughly. It doesn’t work very well for those cases with lots of idle time, you pay per hour (at least
in the evenings and weekends), and longer journeys (couple of hundred km) can become quite
expensive. But then, get a train and only do the last mile by car — that’s what trains are
bad at. I’m sure it’s not an option for everyone, but still good to consider this before you add yet
another car to those traffic jams. And having lots of cars in the streets in front of your
house doesn’t improve the quality of living as well. So for the Dutchies, there’s Greenwheels.
Now go looking for something similar in your country.