Zipcar
Car Sharing was born in Boston in the year
2000, when Zipcar was founded.
Zipcar received great press as an economic, social and
environmental revolution. The company claims that for every shared
car, 15 private cars are eliminated. [1]
However, in some cities, car sharing is being used to greenwash
serious problems.
In Milan, Italy, for example, City Hall has been very shy about
tackling the problem of the hundreds of thousands of cars that are
routinely parked on sidewalks. Instead, they prefer to
congratulate themselves and pose as the self-proclaimed "capital of
sharing".
Many of these car sharing schemes are successful. But are they
improving cities?
Oh, but one day they will all be electric. And one day they will
all be self-driving. [2]
But nobody dares ask the real question: Are we sure that cars can
be the solution?
There's an American city that is chocking full of shared cars, once
yellow and, recently, more of them black, that are constantly on
the move. Are we sure that New York is really the model we should
be following? [3]
[1]
Slee, Tom.
What's Yours Is Mine: Against the Sharing Economy, Chapter
4.
[2]
Sherwood-Jones, Brian.
Destroying the City to Save the Robocar.
[3]
Schneider, Todd.
Analyzing 1.1 Billion NYC Taxi and Uber Trips, with a
Vengeance.