NYC's on-street carshare parking program to expand citywide

gothamist.com

Submitted by HEIMDVLLR t3_10wwrz3 in nyc

Car owner Micheal Curtis lives in Bay Ridge and said the program will create congestion on a crowded street.

"There's no parking as it is," he told Gothamist on Tuesday.. "You've got street dining on 5th Avenue. They should put it on 5th Avenue. I just looked for a parking spot for an hour-and-a-half."

Mariah Tarvainen moved to the block in August 2021 and doesn’t own a car. She said that living in an area with less access to public transportation had her considering getting a car, but a carshare program so close by could be a viable alternative.

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flightwaves t1_j7pe3w0 wrote

Glad the pilot program is finally being expanded. DOT is moving really slow. We also need expansion of car charging stations at a way quicker pace.

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xyzd95 t1_j7pi8jt wrote

I think it’s a good idea. There’ve been plenty of times where I thought of making a trip out of the city for work and to visit friends/family but I didn’t have a car and was dissuaded from doing so. Amtrak is cool and buses do get around but I don’t want to have to take a lyft or ask for a lift being stuck in a bus terminal in the middle of nowhere

I’m still saving up for a car but I can see how this would make less people inclined to do so when they don’t have to worry about street parking after getting to their neighborhood

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national_wildant t1_j7pl70h wrote

whatever the feelings about Zipcar as a company are, I’ve found this service incredibly useful. Most of my needs are met by going by train but my job requires me to sometimes have to drive to locations often not accessible by public transport.

Also if I have to go up state and don’t want to drive all the way I’ve found Zipcars parked by train station parking lots where I can take part of the trip by train and do the last leg by car

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8bitaficionado t1_j7plylu wrote

I had zip car for a number of years as it was my way to get to military duty and I got rid of it for the following reasons

  • At the time, the price for a weekend was almost $400 this was comparable to a month of parking. Now it's just slightly less as parking prices went up.
  • The cars were filthy. Food, animal hair. All sorts of nasty things
  • You couldn't get a car in the summer. Things were just booked for months.

After dealing with Zip Car I learned that any shared resource from subways, parks and cars are treated awfully. If any one thing ruins this city it is the people who live here and don't care and treat things badly. I gave up bought a cheap city car and pay for parking and it's cleaner and cheaper for me then ZIP.

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booboolurker t1_j7pm96t wrote

That’s great and all but who is cleaning those cars in between use? I’ve used this a couple of times and the cars were absolutely filthy.

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oreosfly t1_j7puxc1 wrote

Replying to 8bitaficionado (#1,753,427)

Used zipcar a lot in school. They were filthy as shit, mechanically deficient (oh this car has a donut on and you need to drive it 100 miles on the highway? Guess you’re SOL) and you were way too dependent on other people bringing the car back in time. I would book it to get groceries and if the person before you decided to return half an hour late, you’re SOL again.

No thanks.

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unndunn t1_j7q828t wrote

Ever since Zipcar got bought by Avis, it's turned to shit.

I still have a Zipcar membership, but I really only use it for emergencies now.

Apparently Getaround has a car share service using cars they own now. The planned DOT carshare parking space nearest me is assigned to Getaround. I might sign up with them and ditch Zipcar for good.

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oreosfly t1_j7qfwfb wrote

Replying to booboolurker (#1,753,443)

They actually allow members to bring cars to car washes and they reimburse you (up to a limit) if you email support with a photo of the receipt afterwards.

But most people aren’t going to pay for reservation time just to go hang out at a car wash waiting for their zip car to be cleaned.

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Die-Nacht t1_j7r2wtz wrote

Cool program and glad it is expanding. I already have a car but this will help a lot of people.

Though I find their prioritization odd. They posted a map of the program (which is super deceiving) and it shows that the Rockaways already have it. Really? Rockaways have it but not Astoria?

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Backpackerer t1_j7u6stt wrote

Car sharing in general is an amazing idea. It helps to reduce number of car owners. I used it all the time in Europe. Have no clue why it’s didn’t survive in NYC. Car2Go tried here and I liked them. They had bunch of smarts all over the city

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MasterInterface t1_j7wg30j wrote

Replying to Backpackerer (#1,761,060)

It doesn't quite work here because of various factors both economical and social.

For start, insurance. Most insurance companies will drop you if they find out your car is participating in car sharing. Then there is the push back and problem you'll deal with the car sharing company and how likely they'll cover damages.

If the renter hits another car, then it's going to be a huge headache for the owner. Let's not forget, they'll also be out of a car for months.

Then there is an issue of cleanliness. It's time consuming and costly to clean a car. Who's paying for that? It only takes one person to cost you hundreds and possibly a whole day of work to clean up a car.

People here in NYC treat most of the city like trash. So I don't expect them to treat someone else's car better.

Overall, it's expensive and not very beneficial to share your car in the US. If you push the risk/cost to the renter, then they won't see the value of renting from a car share. If car share is only slightly lower than car rental with more restrictions/fees, then it's the same situation like with airbnb vs hotel.

If we're talking about something like zip car, right now they cost a fortune to rent for a weekend and are dirty af. You're generally better off doing a car rental. Most of the time, it can easily come out to $300-$400 to rent for a popular weekend.

At one point I've calculated the cost, and as well as other people I know, it's much cheaper (and less headache) to own a car especially once you start factoring in SO/family and if you drive at least once or twice a month.

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Doctor_Spacemann t1_j8cwyrt wrote

Car2go was way more convenient. I wish zipcar didn’t kill the whole project.

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