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I'm slightly curious how much of this is some unexpected cost that they could't come to terms with as they expanded across NA. Across the street from my house,
by mumblemumble 7y ago
I'm slightly curious how much of this is some unexpected cost that they could't come to terms with as they expanded across NA.
Across the street from my house, it's fine to park in the evenings, and a tow zone during the day. People would leave Car2go cars parked there all the time, and, with it being so uncertain when the next person would get the car, those puppies were like manna from heaven for the city impound lot's balance sheet. Someone on my block tried putting their car up Getaround, too, but that ended right quick.
In many of the cities I've lived in, street parking is also odd/even in the winter in the denser parts of town where Car2go makes sense. Parking is less brutal further out parts of town, but I imagine actually finding and getting yourself to a car starts feeling like more hassle than it's worth. Seems like it could easily escalate into a choice between no customers at all, and customers who tend to produce negative revenue.
- llampx 7y agoParking is even more of a hassle in their core market, dense urban Europe. I live in Berlin and have been hit with an unforeseen parking fine due to the hard-to-read parking signs. I think it has more to do with the fact that most people in America own cars and only rent if they need a car long term.
- microtherion 7y agoMobility, the Swiss car sharing company I'm using, is solving this by renting a dedicated parking space for each car (though of course this reduces flexibility quite a bit). Recently, I tried to return a car only to see the parking space being taken up by an unauthorized car (all the more aggravating as my car was electric and should have been recharged overnight). I was advised to find a legal parking space where I could leave the car for 12 hours or so — which turned out to be a significant hassle. I was essentially unable to find a spot and ended up parking in my own driveway.
- dmoy 7y ago> Mobility, the Swiss car sharing company I'm using, is solving this by renting a dedicated parking space for each car (though of course this reduces flexibility quite Zipcar in the US does this for awhile now. It's ok, but means you can't do point to point as easily. So if you drive somewhere, do something for hours, you have to hold the reservation the whole time and then drive back when you're done. It's useful for many things, but the pricing doesn't work for everything.
- michaelt 7y agoI think they'd need quite high density before releasing your reservation makes sense - after all, how are you going to get home if someone else has taken the car?
- sveme 7y agoBut you never get a situation in Germany where parking is allowed Mo-Wed-Fr during the day but not on Tue-Thu-Sat from 8am till 12am, which was driving me crazy in the US.
- adrianN 7y agoYes you do. For example we have bus lanes that are parking lanes outside rush-hour.
- julian_digital 7y agothis is actually quite common in Germany
- wh1t3n01s3 7y agoThe model is supposed to work only if you can park anywhere anytime (inside the city limits). For example in Milan (Italy) this works good.