With her always handy camera, Avery captures all the hottest happenings in Portland.
January 06, 2009
Car sharing comes to Portland
Portland's brand-new U Cars have rolled into town. Two of these sleek PT Cruisers can be found parked on Elm Street (next to the library and across from the METRO station) and another two can be found on Commercial Street, near the ferry terminal. U-Haul runs U Car Share, which is one of a growing number of car sharing programs operating throughout the country.
The concept behind these programs is simple. Rather than going to the expense of owning and operating a car that sits idle for days or weeks at a time, city dwellers can instead subscribe to a car sharing program and just pay to use it when they need it. Reserving a car is easy, and it's all done online.
Normally the sign-up fee for U Car is $50, but if you go to the U Car website, click on Portland, ME and register using the code MAINESWITCH2009, the fee will be waived.
After that the costs are straightforward. You pay $9.50 an hour, up to a maximum of $66 for the full day. You don't even have to pay for the gas. Everyone benefits from this program (whether you sign up or not) because it means fewer cars on the road and cuts the city's need for parking.
The U Cars have designated on-street parking spots that the city has made available free of charge for one year. After that, U Car will pay for the spots.
Comments
Okay -- so "WHO" paid for these new cars and "WHO" will pay for their upkeep and "WHO" will pay for the gas and "WHO" will pay for the administrative paperwork on reserving and "WHO" will pay for the insurance and "WHO will pay for any repairs and "WHO" will pay for all other incidentals?
Posted by Patty SchoolsJanuary 8, 2009 09:51 AM
U Car Share pays for the upkeep, the cost of doing business (the paperwork/reserving you mentioned), the insurance is included in the hourly rental cost so each member is covered by U Car Share's insurance when they drive the car, U Car Share pays for maintenance and U Car Share pays for gas. Go online ot the U Car Share website and read the member handbook or the Q&A section and you will see all the answers to your questions. The hourly rental cost covers a lot of things. And if used properly can save money when compared to the cost of owning and maintaining a personal vehicle. U Car Share is not like other car share organizations that make the partner pay for the upfront costs of the program. U Car Share is part of U Haul so there is no up front cost to the partner. This is a green program that brings many benefits to the partner. The savings the partner can gain over the long term are huge, so often times they provide parking spaces at no cost due to the savings they gain in the future.
Posted by CassandraJanuary 8, 2009 10:35 AM
Thanks for the informative post, Cassandra.
Car sharing is a great service that has the potential to help reduce congestion and parking demands. It also makes it easier for people to make a rational choice not to own a vehicle.
However, people need to be aware of the liability they assume when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. They also need to carefully review the protection that the car sharing service offers.
Our blog has a recent post about this that we hope your readers might find helpful. http://tinyurl.com/949c33
Posted by BobJanuary 12, 2009 02:18 PM
Hi Bob, no worries onteh multiples. Car Share companies are held to high standard of insurance requirements. The current deductible is $500 and U car Share carries more coverage for the driver than the average driver carries for themselves.
Posted by CassandraJanuary 12, 2009 03:46 PM
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Great to see this happening. Once again, thanks for the informative piece.
Posted by great ideaJanuary 6, 2009 01:29 PM