Street Car sharing cars in London
I really like the idea of car sharing. In the US, we've got CityWheels and ZipCar. In the UK, there is WhizzGo and now Street Car. The incredibly cleverly named Street Car (seriously, I dig it) offers Londoners a fleet of nothing but Volkswagen Golfs at this point. These cars are not the bare bones models, as they're teched out with cell phone and iPod compatibility. You can even call Street Car HQ for free from the car's hands-free phone. Street Car's reservation system is similar to ZipCar's. You submit your request online or using your cell phone, walk up to the car, use your personal code to gain access to the vehicle, and go about your business. It costs £4.95 per hour or £35 per 24 hours (and there is no joining fee). Street Car claims using a car for a "representative two trips a week" for a year will cost you £707, compared to £2749 to actually own a car 24/7/365. What's incredible about the Street Car website is the detailed description of where the cars are parked. An internet map with the address and directions, plus a picture of the car's exact parking space is available online for each of Street Car's hundred or so vehicles in London. You can tell from the way the website is written that the company plans on expanding ("click to browse all UK locations", for example). I hope they do.
[Source: Street Car]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
flego 3:51AM (8/15/2009)
Streetcar is a good idea BADLY implemented!
The big flaw is that there's no one checking the car conditions apart from the users themselves. And when the car is being damaged while it's parked, possibly by another vehicle in the parking, you can be attributed the responsibility for it!!!
The latter has just happened to me:
http://www.watchoutstreetcar.co.uk
and to Benet:
http://streetcarsucks.co.uk
and who knows to how many other customers that just paid because they didn't feel like to spend time, money and get stressed to fight against Streetcar!!!
Cheers,
Federico Flego
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