Car sharing in Phoenix

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Tony Arranaga in Featured

I love my Discount cabbies, however I’ve recently discovered a service in Phoenix that can be more convenient and less expensive than a taxi.

A car-sharing program called Zipcar parks two fuel efficient vehicles in the parking lot next to the Cronkite School in Downtown Phoenix.  The lot is located at 1st St and Fillmore, which is just a quick walk from Central Station in Downtown Phoenix.

Why do I love ZipCar?

• You can rent one for about $8 per hour ($9 on the weekends)
• A two hour rental is still less expensive than many one way trips around Central Phoenix
• The extra time means means you can have the car to run other errands, see a friend, etc.

On the downside

• The convenience makes it hard to resist when you’re just plain lazy.
• Laziness can get expensive when these rentals start adding up through the month

Here’s what else you need to know:

There’s a $25 application fee, which takes about two or three business days to process.  The membership fee is $50 which covers insurance and a prepaid gas card you leave in the ZipCar for the next member.  There are two cars at the downtown campus and also another ZipCar fleet at the Tempe campus.  A Honda Civic Hybrid and a Toyota Yaris.  Love the Yaris, wouldn’t recommend the Honda.  One of these days I’ll find the cutout holes in the floorboard to insert my feet – allowing me to pedal for faster speeds.

As a matter of fact, I used the Fred Flinstone ZipCar tonight – I went to visit a client which happened to be on the way to drop off Adron and Jo at the Amtrak station in Maricopa to head back home to Portland. We had dinner together, shared some more stories and laughed about wardrobe malfunctions.  I’ve been blogging about METRO rail for about a year and while I’ve met plenty of bloggers here in the Valley, this was the first time I’ve met one from out of state.  Adron and Jo are a hoot, and I can’t wait to see what transit is like in Portland.  I loved seeing their perspective on how we do light-rail in Phoenix.  You can read the Transit Sleuth here.

Tags: Adron Hall, car-sharing, Discount Cab, EXTREME HEAT AND YOUR CARFREE COMMUTE, METRO, Phoenix, rail, Transit Sleuth, ZipCar