On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 13:22:25 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
"It's ironic, since you started this thread with the suggestion that
offering residents (of the downtown area) another alternative to owning a
car (by citing the community cars there) was a bad idea, that you've
focused on the Dane County census figures rather than the (much less auto
and SOV oriented) figures for the City of Madison, and the even better
figures for Madison's downtown area that Bill cited"
Why is it ironic? There is a potential for more "new" vehicle miles
traveled (VMT) resulting from car sharing to originate in the downtown
area, because fewer people use vehicles there now. They may not need to
have access to one to drive to work, but they may decide to check one of
the "rented" cars out ("share"???) every now and then to get to more
distant parts of the city, or out of the city -- areas they don't travel
to now or, if they do go there, they use alternatives to the auto to get
there.
Those additional numbers of vehicle miles traveled in the city will add
to many of the same problems daily commuters contribute to now (air
emissions, safety, noise), even though they originate from a part of the
city where the auto commuting percentage is relatively low.
As for locating the car-sharing lots, the downtown area is already one of
the most car-congested areas of the city, relative to its total area(on
weekdays at least), so improving the people who live there's access motor
vehicles will also likely add to the auto congestion of the downtown
area, as well as they other areas of the city of Madison.
I might be more inclined to support the idea of car sharing if it were
not a money-making venture. In general, I would think there would be a
built in business interest to "rent" out more cars if this is a
for-profit venture, and to rent them out as frequently as possible, to
encourage people to drive as many miles around the city, and elsewhere
(as long as they can afford it). Whether prospective car sharing
members had a car or not before becoming members doesn't make much of a
difference on a balance sheet.
Meanwhile, those of us who live here, and pay for all the hidden costs of
too much driving in Madison (one way or another), don't get any profits
generated by whatever subsidies Car Sharing, Inc. might receive. We
merely have to put up with the added "costs" of more cars driven on our
streets, making profits for the owners, allowing free use of "our" air
for depositing the emissions.
If car sharing would in fact reduce the over all motor vehicle miles
traveled in Madison, I would support it. But I think it's highly
unlikely to do so, in the aggregate.
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