3 ms·
It's an intriguing idea and there's probably something to it, but what kind of shitty journalism is this? > Needless to say, the Great Recession is responsible
by stdbrouw 13y ago
It's an intriguing idea and there's probably something to it, but what kind of shitty journalism is this?
> Needless to say, the Great Recession is responsible for some of the decline.
Yep, but somehow that's a boring assumption that doesn't gel with the authors' thinking so they just brush it aside completely.
> First, gas prices more than doubled, which made car-sharing alluring.
Because the cost of a car-share is somehow independent of gas prices? Really? (Gas prices may make people less likely to drive everywhere, making a car less of a useful purchase, making car-sharing more alluring – I'll grant them that.)
Then it continues with three examples of the "sharing economy", because obviously three examples is enough to declare a trend.
Sigh...
- warfangle 13y ago> Because the cost of a car-share is somehow independent of gas prices? Really? Zip car rentals include gas.
- harpastum 13y agoBut the rental price includes the price of gas. If gas prices tripled tomorrow, Zipcar would have to raise their rates. It's a bit more decoupled for the customer, but it has the same impact overall.
- YokoZar 13y agoIf gas prices are expected to be continuously high, you will try to structure your life in a way that can minimize car usage (say, living in an urban area). That can make not even owning a car at all a viable option. If you're such a person, and do happen to occasionally need a car for something, that makes you much more likely to be a ZipCar customer. Zipcar doesn't make new customers by having driving be practical, they make new customers by having driving be impractical enough to be (almost entirely) avoided.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]