Manlio Rules

I’ve spend the last year without a car (thank you transmission failure!). San Francisco is a strange place to be without a car. sometimes it’s refreshingly awesome to not have to think in the back of my mind: “where am I parked? when is street cleaning? Is tomorrow considered the fifth monday of the month, and if so, do i have to move the car? what color is the curb? what the hell does that mean?”

and other times it’s remarkably frustrating, like when i’m trying to get from SOMA to the Marina and there are no buses that get me there before a half hour, even though the walking time is probably less than that.

I’ve been using zipcar, and i get a lot of people asking me: “how is that”. this is what i think:

Pros:

1. sometimes cars are right near you! for example, i have a lot across the street, and 4 more lots within 2-3 blocks. this is awesome.

2. gas and insurance and parking included in the price, which is sweet

3. you can park anywhere else that zipcars live! actually that’s a lie, you can’t do that, and i would never do such a thing. ever.

4. the cars are generally in pretty good shape, except for the mazda on lombard and polk with the battery that died on me.

5. i can’t speak more about not having to deal with street parking when i’m done with driving. just a relief.

Cons:

1. if you need to use the car more than one full day a week, it’s VERY expensive. like, easily $500 – $600 a month assuming 2 full days a week of use. eek.

2. if you don’t plan well or live in a place that isn’t near a lot of cars, it’s a pain. i had to walk a half mile to get to a car one time, carrying like 4 bags. not ideal.

3. more often than i’d like, the cars are either not where they’re supposed to be, or the gas has been left too close to empty

4. it is hard to learn how to drive a new car every few days. i find that i’m a less confident driver if every time i get behind the wheel, it’s a different car.

all things considered, if i didn’t have access to my girlfriends car most of the time (moochy moochy). i would probably not still be doing zipcar, unless i lived and worked in the city.

i keep thinking about doing a much smaller “car share”. like, get 4-5 people, split the cost of a used car and parking, and then find a way to insure it and share the time usage. i’m not sure how much this would cost but it may be cheaper than the monthly zipcar cost. everyone would need to live pretty close together, which makes it a little bit trickier.

one other good thing i will say is that for trips to tahoe, the larger zipcars are competitive price wise to renting an awd car from the normal rental channels, when you consider that insurance and gas are included with the zipcar. for tahoe trips that’s a lifesaver, especially if you can split the cost with someone else.