The Neighborhood Energy Consortium (NEC) announced today that it will launch Minnesota�s first car-sharing service
Gee, I've had friends that have shared cars for years... but never bothered with press releases or shaking down government and local foundations to pay for their car.
The NEC�s program, called hOurCar, will get rolling in the spring with six cars distributed among hubs in the Uptown and Loring Park neighborhoods in Minneapolis and the Lowertown district of downtown Saint Paul.
Two rental cars in each of these neighborhoods isn't going to impact much of anything.
Congresswoman Betty McCollum, Senators Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton, and Congressman James Oberstar led efforts at the federal level to secure a $275,000 appropriation to help launch hOurCar.
I know Prius are grossly overpriced, but that comes to over $45,000 a Prius.
�hOurCar is an innovative program that provides creative transportation solutions to ease congestion, improve air quality
Sorry, but adding more motor vehicles increases congestion and pollution.
and make transportation opportunities more accessible to everyone, benefiting our entire community.�
That $275,000 could have given thirty odd 3 year old low mileage sedans from the GSA, state, and county motor pools to low income families so they can get to work, school, etc.. Over put at least 10 15 passenger vans running on biodiesel on the streets.
Members will pay for hOurCar�s services through monthly membership dues and vehicle usage fees. Members who opt to pay $5/month dues can use hOurCars at a rate of $6.95/hour plus $0.45/mile. Alternatively, members may choose to pay higher monthly dues of $20 along with lower usage rates of $4.95/hour plus $0.39/mile. �Our unique dual rate structure allows members to choose the plan that will save them the most money,�
Either way they're about the most expensive car rentals in town- $120 a day plus mileage! Even if I used HourCar only one day a month it would cost over twice as much as my late model pickup costs. And instead of having to transfer buses to get to an HourCar location, my vehicle is right in my driveway any time I need it...
Mary Morse, Executive Director of the NEC, hOurCar�s nonprofit parent organization, notes that �What makes hOurCar unique among car-sharing services worldwide is our emphasis on environmental benefits. Our signature vehicle�the Toyota Prius�is known for its fuel efficiency.
Can you run a Prius on renewables? No.
What�s less well known is that this car is incredibly clean. According to Toyota, the Prius emits up to 90% fewer pollutants than the average new vehicle.
Providing the batteries are charged up before they measure the pollutants... And of course you have to run the engine to charge the batteries. Sorry, but hybrids are not perpetual motion machines- they merely do there polluting in not neccessarily the same place as they operate.
And the Prius is a great looking car
Perhaps if you have really strange tastes in automotive styling...
that�s fun to drive.�
If your idea of fun is a slow car that handles like it's loaded down with several hundred pounds of heavy metals in the rear, because it is.
Suffice to say it is sad to see tax and non profit dollars that could have been used to provide transportation for low income folks wasted on a half dozen status symbols of political correctness for yuppies.
from Broadway Station in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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