Hoboken's Innovative Car Sharing Program

The program, just a few weeks old, was created by the city's director of parking and transportation (and Planetizen Interchange blogger) Ian Sacs.

"The program, called Corner Cars, is based on the rent-by-the-hour model that companies like Zipcar and Hertz have been offering for years. In other cities, however, those cars are stored deep in parking garages or clustered in a few neighborhoods. Hoboken's shared cars are parked on the street, in special bright green spots that appear every few blocks so they are never far out of sight or mind.

Connect by Hertz, which offered the winning bid to run the program, charges drivers $5 to $16 an hour to use the cars (plus 7 percent sales tax and a $5 New Jersey 'domestic security fee'; gas is included). But it charges Hoboken nothing. In fact, it pays the city for the opportunity."