The Car-Free Share, and Hail, Their Rides

Referring to Eric Jaffe's article and David King's blog post, Ben Adler summarizes that cabs and car-sharing services are often part of the public transit infrastructure, not its alternative.

Adler's blog does not address the impact of car-sharing on cab services or vice versa, but uses his personal car-less life to point out that car-sharing is more viable “in areas that are a little less dense and centrally located than, say, Manhattan,” but that “having easily available and accessible cabs is a necessary precondition.”

The on-call, on-time, door-to-door services of both cabs and car-sharing services “make it easier for you to leave your car at home for the day, or possibly get rid of your car altogether.” These services place the cost of each car ride at the time it occurs, forcing you to re-evaluate every car ride: “When you have to drop $30 on a cab or a Zipcar rental, you will stop to ask yourself whether this trip is really worth it — and often you’ll say no.” Whereas, “...once I had a car, it would have made sense to amortize the cost of buying it by using it more frequently.”