How to Make Car-Share Work in the Suburbs

Car-sharing services like Zipcar can reduce car ownership up to 25 percent, at least according to one recent survey, but they're most effective in dense cities. In suburban areas, the situation gets tougher, since a car-share user might park the car somewhere without a new user nearby to pick it up. The commuter rail station is a good example: it's easy to picture someone dropping off the and riding into work, but harder to see who would use it during the day.

Ideally, then, the car-sharing service would try to arrange a reliable daytime partner. A Palo Alto-area pilot project called CarLink tested out that idea circa 2002. One group of users drove to a suburban Caltrain commuter rail station in the morning. A second group (presumably reverse commuting from the city) picked it up there and drove it to an office. A third group used the car for mid-day errands. Ultimately it wound up back at the Caltrain station and parked outside a group-one home come evening.