Rethinking the automible.

• Author: Bradshaw, Chris

"There's something odd about cities; we park on our driveways and drive on our parkways." --Anon.

The Kyoto Accord focused only on car emissions. The issues, however, are much broader. Since society provides shared rights-of-way but leaves car ownership to the individual, cars are too numerous, poorly utilized and larger than most trips require. In contrast, carxharing achieves greater walkabilily by changing car usage and design. Carsharing challenges us to envision a world without privately owned cars. And there are other options to explore as well. The following explores a vision of a possible future.

Why own a car?

Cities create wealth by bringing people together for social contact, transmittal of knowledge, invention and collaboration. They depend on macro transport linking them to resources and each other but require micro transport internally. The automobile is ill suited for either and is more practical for the rural living for which it was originally marketed.

A Green Hierarchy matches transportation as modes to appropriate trips for efficient utilization of space and resources. Shorter trips require small-footprint walking and cycling (Bradshaw 1992b). Longer trips, planned in advance, pool demand by using a common carrier (transit, train, bus, air). The expensive personal automobile is marketed as the mode encompassing all trips but is never the best mode for any specific trip type.

Despite these shortcomings, to drive without special arrangements you must own a car. This adds new responsibilities to your life: maintaining your car's home, paying insurance and knowing enough about how cars work to oversee maintenance and repairs. Government subsidies for health care, roads and oil resource protection cover some of the additional expenses owners do not pay. The largest cost is "free" parking included in the price of goods and services (Shoup 2005).

Alternatives to owning cars grow more impractical as distances increase. Rental is the most widespread alternative, but minimum rentals are 24 hours while 95% of drivers' trips are under 10 hours. Most people yield to the reality that ownership is the only practical choice as transit service declines while fares increase despite growing subsidies. Walking and cycling are degraded by their vulnerability to speeding cars. Advertising alludes to power and status more than utility and responsible use.

MASC & OPOCO

Carsharing is how we'd drive today if the car were initially like the telephone: rented, minimal and attached to the network it depended on. It's like car rental but allows access as brief as an hour. Storage locations are mostly within mixed-use downtown neighborhoods and rates include gas and insurance. Though mostly used for Single Occupant Vehicle (SOV) trips, its fare structure preempts daily commuting. Carsharing reduces peak demand on the roads and the need for parking. Over one million people worldwide use carsharing to replace their first or second car. It is the first form of access challenging car ownership itself.

People who carshare also use rentals for out-of-town trips and taxis for emergencies and one way trips. Ridesharing is used for commuting, potentially making ownership unnecessary. I call these four options (carsharing, ridesharing, rental and taxis) along with informal carsharing between friends, neighbors, etc., Metered Access to a Shared Car or MASC. I juxtapose it with what I call One-Person, One-Car Orientation or OPOCO.

Individual car ownership affects car use and choise

Lesson One: Practically. There is nothing wrong with private ownership per se, but owning a car is neither practical nor necessary. We carry our cars around with us only because we might need them. MASC users' cars fit in a pocket: a key or electronic card gives them access, with a prior reservation, to a car whenever it is needed.

Lesson Two: Congestion. OPOCO drivers need more cars, greatly increasing traffic jams and full parking lots. Accordingly, planners oversize roads and lots at great expense to us and our environment. MASC allows cities to limit the number of vehicles to fit on people-friendly streets and achieve ideal density and usage. Shared fleets give just enough car access. Under MASC, peak hour driving is mostly ridesharing and citizens know that SOV use...