using carshare for the first time

tuesday morning, i had orientation for new members of austin carshare. guess what? the car wasn't in its spot at 2nd & colorado, like it was supposed to be! felipe, who works for carshare, spent several minutes on his cell phone notifying various others about the situation and then went ahead and told us how it worked, showing on another vehicle where the electronic card reader is located.

i'm hoping this is as rare as he says it is.

there were 3 new members besides me getting oriented. felipe says it takes about 35 members to support a car, and that carshare should have a couple more cars soon. they're looking at a south austin location.

as an aside, i'd love to see them locate one closer to my home on the near eastside, maybe at saltillo plaza, which eventually will be a transportation hub, with a bike trail and light rail station as well as bus stop. there are a lot of lofts, condos, and apartments going up on the eastside, inhabited by people who want to live close-in. there are also a lot of bike riders, many many more than when i moved into the 'hood in 2000. carshare might actually do pretty well on the eastside.

anyway, at the orientation, felipe gave each of us an information packet with the member handbook and a couple of things to sign to square the deal. he explained how the program works and answered our questions.

i walked back to work from 4th & congress, one of the carshare spots, to see how long it would take me. 19 minutes.

i tried to make a reservation online tuesday afternoon, evening, and wednesday morning, but couldn't get in. it didn't recognize my login info. i finally called the reservation number (phone reservations are $1, online it's free). it took the operator some time, and she put me on hold for several minutes and then said i may have been billed, credited, and billed again...

i'm thinking "first-time glitches"... with my fingers crossed.

so i had a reservation from 11:45-1:30 wednesday for my noon chiropractic appointment. i left work at 11:30 and walked to 4th & congress. that took 20 minutes. i swiped the electronic key against the reader to unlock the scion and got in. it took me awhile to find the ignition key. i adjusted the seat and rear view mirror and drove to my appointment. no problem! the car handled well.

afterwards, i stopped at whole foods for celebratory potato soup!

when i got back to the spot a few minutes before 1:30, there was a young man impatiently waiting. he said he was late for a doctor appointment! well, excuse me, but i had the car until 1:30, and there's a 15-minute grace period after that! it's not my fault that he was late.

anyway, i swiped the reader again to check the car in and took a bus to 11th street, walking through the capitol to get back to work.

it takes a bit longer than if i had my own car in the parking garage. with carshare, i have to use little more leave time for errands and appointments during the day, so that's a "cost". i imagine the health benefits of walking 15 miles a week to and from work probably outweigh the cost.

the monetary cost for this expedition was probably about $10. i'll find out when i get my bill in march and post it here.

i'm making an appointment for cranio-sacral therapy, and i need to take my cat to the vet. will use carshare and report back on those adventures.

so, so far, so good. a few glitches but nothing major.