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Car-Sharing

Want to run errands at lunch? Have a business meeting? Spouse has the car for the day? Try car-sharing.

Need a car sometimes, but not the hassle of owning one? Car-sharing is your answer. These programs offer a fleet of vehicles conveniently located around town, perfect for short-term rentals by the hour or even minute. Plus, most fees are bundled in, including gas and insurance.

Think of car-sharing as a pay-as-you-go car service. Unlike owning a car with high fixed costs like insurance and maintenance, you pay for car-sharing only when you use it. This makes car-sharing a great option alongside public transportation, biking or walking, potentially eliminating the need for a personal car.

Families can benefit too. Car-sharing can postpone or eliminate the need to buy a second car, saving on expenses and freeing up parking space. Businesses can also ditch company cars or requiring employees to use their own vehicles by joining a car-sharing program.

In short, car-sharing offers a flexible and cost-effective way to access a car when and where you need it.

Car-Sharing Benefits

Photo: Car-sharing signSome important benefits of car-sharing include:

Lower demand for parking. Surveys consistently report that each car-sharing vehicle replaces as many as seven or more private cars, as members sell or scrap their cars, or avoid buying new ones. When fewer cars need to be parked, it makes parking easier for cars that still do.

Fewer miles driven and emissions produced. While surveys suggest that car-share members are often infrequent car users to begin with (taking advantage of other transportation options available in urban areas), once people start car-sharing they report driving less. Car-share vehicles also tend to be newer and more fuel efficient than the household cars they replace, which means fewer emissions produced for each mile driven.

Lower transportation costs. For people who drive infrequently, the fixed costs of car ownership are a majority of the costs associated with driving. By switching from personal car ownership to car-sharing membership, infrequent drivers could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.

Personal non-monetary benefits of car-sharing include:

  • New vehicles (reliability and comfort)
  • No maintenance or repair responsibilities
  • Vehicles always clean and serviced by the provider
  • Allows you to choose the right vehicle for the job, unlike owning one car that has to do it all
  • Convenient locations where people live and work
  • Guaranteed parking space (*not all business models)
  • No filling up the gas tank (*not all business models)

Car-Sharing Service Providers

Reserved-Space Car-Sharing

Zipcar - Hundreds of Zipcars are parked in convenient locations throughout the region. Members reserve and book a nearby car on the go using an app, then use it to unlock the car. The rental period can be as little as ½ hour for one-way trips, where members return the car to a different reserved parking spot, or one hour for round-trip, where members return the car to the same reserved parking spot where they picked it up. Zipcar members can also use their membership in the many other U.S. cities and abroad.

Peer-to-Peer Car-Sharing

Peer-to-peer car-sharing programs provide a means for car owners to rent out otherwise underutilized personal vehicles. These programs typically screen would-be drivers and provide insurance for the car owners in the event that their car is involved in an accident while being used by a car-sharing member. Examples of existing peer-to-peer networks include:

Getaround and Turo - Car owners list their vehicle on the app and renters can browse, book and unlock vehicles all from their phones.

Car-Sharing Resources

Arlington County, Virginia's Car-sharing page

Arlington's Car-Free Diet Car-sharing page

Related Content

Arlington’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Counters

Bikes counted

View Counter Data
110 Trail
448
14th Street Bridge
0
Arlington Mill Trail
229
Ballston Connector
0
Bluemont Connector
0
CC Connector
440
Clarendon EB bike lane
233
Custis Bon Air Park
532
Custis Rosslyn
823
Eads NB
97
Eads SB
77
Fairfax EB bike lane
123
Fairfax WB
115
Joyce St NB
44
Joyce St SB
0
Key Bridge East
917
Key Bridge West
630
Military NB bike lane
26
Military SB bike lane
18
MVT Airport South
1054
Quincy NB bike lane
75
Quincy SB bike lane
81
Roosevelt Bridge
311
Rosslyn Bikeometer
785
TR Island Bridge
665
WOD Bon Air Park
0
WOD Bon Air West
0
WOD Columbia Pike
563
Wilson WB bike lane
171

Peds counted

View Counter Data
110 Trail
339
14th Street Bridge
0
Arlington Mill Trail
363
Ballston Connector
733
Bluemont Connector
0
CC Connector
28
Custis Bon Air Park
62
Custis Rosslyn
371
Eads NB
0
Eads SB
0
Fairfax WB
0
Joyce St NB
23
Joyce St SB
0
Key Bridge East
1350
Key Bridge West
466
MVT Airport South
203
Roosevelt Bridge
118
TR Island Bridge
545
WOD Bon Air Park
0
WOD Bon Air West
0
WOD Columbia Pike
321

All counters, YTD

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Year to Date
5115381