I recently visited Philly and was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of CarShare vehicles. Throughout the city significant street space is reserved for the mini-depots that house 2-5 of the vehicles… It really looks convenient.

I saw a number of number of people using them as well. It looks the program is really popular (and the logo is super cute!).

Now if only they could develop better cross-town bike routes…

(I’m sure there are union issues)

There are always union issues.

At City Planning, when doing field work with others, I’d arrive at the office, meet the co-workers, and then set off to get the city car. After filling out the forms and getting the vehicle, we’d head to the location for the field work. Soon after we arrived, it would be time for lunch. Leaving the field early, we’d return to the location to drop off the car, do more field work, and return to the office in time to depart.

When doing field work on my own, I would sometimes use transit and sometimes use my own car, forgoing reimbursement to avoid the hassle of all the forms. Either way, I’d travel directly to the field location from home, starting right in the work, and travel directly from a field location home.

More work accomplished, less aggravation, probably somehow illegal. But it hardly mattered, as much of the work I did there was never used in any event.

Also, I forgot to mention: Besides higher garage costs in NYC vs. Philly, PhillyCarShare is nonprofit, while Zipcar is for profit.