Relayrides & car sharing

Here is another great article from shareable.net (would you share a car with a stranger?) outlines some of the ground breaking car sharing schemes being tried out in the US (astonishing really, as prising the average American out of his SUV isn’t something most of us would attempt, let alone ask him to let someone he didn’t know drive it.) This is a proper discussion of some really innovative and challenging new ideas to get people to make better use of these very expensive and totally underused resources, our cars.

I’ve always thought that informal car clubs, or private syndicates should work well and there is plenty of guidance about this on yours2share, but it takes a while for the groups to form and for word to get around that it can actually work well.  I also must admit that of all the private syndicate types, they are some of the more complex to negotiate and set up, although there are organisations that can help you to do this, look at CarClubs for ideas.  Furthermore the kind of people who are likely to do this, are often those that cannot afford any unexpected costs or pay for legal advice: potential partners in many boat,  property, or aircraft schemes can.

One of the options discussed is RelayRides, the first person-to-person car-sharing service, which will be launching soon in Baltimore.  What this means is that if your car is unused for much of the time, you can register it with RelayRides for other people to use in return for a fee.  You define the periods when it is available for use, and how much you want to charge.  RelayRides sorts out a smartcard which allows the renting person access.  There are ebay-like reviews of both renters and owners so that people are incentivised to look after the car, and make sure it is clean and well maintained.

It’s a great idea, but also extraordinary!  If it takes off, it will have created a shift in people’s mindsets equivalent to that created by ebay (how do I know that a complete stranger will send me the goods for which I’ve just paid them?) or house swapping (so I’m going to let a complete stranger stay in my house, and go and stay in their house?), both of which are now utterly mainstream.  I shall watch RelayRides with great interest and everything crossed.