Unfortunately, public transportation can be unreliable, uncomfortable and take an unreasonable length of time. Alternatively, owning a car can be expensive and the source of many headaches. The number of cars in a household can be minimized through ride share or car share programs.
Share-a-Ride
In many urban regions, many daily commuters rely on carpooling or ride sharing. HOV (High-Occupancy Vehicle) lanes provide extra incentive by enabling commuters to avoid high congestion and shorten their commute time. Commuters may be able to qualify for additional benefits through their employer.
Ride share programs can be found through local transportation authorities, through ride share websites (GoLoco, eRideShare) or through community based resources such as Craigslist (listed under Community).
Particularly interesting is “slugging”, an method of casual ride-sharing popular in the DC area. Commuters gather and queue in public predestined locations where drivers will pick up riders to certain drop-off locations. The culture even has an established set of rules and etiquette. Read more.
Share-a-Car: “own” a car without the high cost, headaches or hassle
Having a car can be convenient for weekend trips and load-heavy errands. An alternative to owning a car in some cities and college towns is through a membership with car-share programs. The two major national car share companies Zip Car and Flex Car merged last year and there are a number of other regionally based programs as well (i.e. City Care Share in the San Francisco area and BoulderCarShare). Zip Car offers cars in 50 cities and college towns in 23 states, in addition to a couple Canadian provinces and London.
In the Boston area, ZipCar is the car share company of choice. Due to its popularity, they are able to conveniently offer a high number of options and locations (I can attest to this being based in the same city from where ZipCar was founded and is headquartered). Insurance and gas are included with a monthly membership fee, cars are reserved online for the length of time needed and a credit-card sized Zipcard is used to gain access to the car.
ZipCar locations
Green Rabbit 