Cell photo by CC

I was driving down I-80 Monday morning when I got a call from Charlotte, who was anxious to interest me in Flexcar’s clever exercise in car sharing promotion. It was an iffy proposition from the get-go, seeing as how the idea was clearly aimed at getting Flexcar’s name out there before the reading public.

One of my issues, I told Charlotte, was that I might be doing a Census story, and wouldn’t have time to run across the Bay to attend flexcar’s press conference.

Here’s the scheme: Flexcar had gotten 15 Bay Area residents to give up their cars for a month, in exchange for free transit and 25 free hours of access to their fleet of hybrids, sedans, minivans and sports cars.

The stunt would illustrate that car sharing provides Read the rest of this entry »

Ok. It’s late. I missed my regular train on account of a poorly synchronized tavern clock, and had to take the late train. I’m tired and a Bay Bridge story I’ve been working on for weeks deprived me of the chance to write about how a $2.9 million security grant for BART might be spent.

So that leaves me with car sharing.

I received an e-mail recently from City CarShare inviting me to blog about their by-the-hour, keyless and paperless car rental service is a great way to avoid the hassles of the Labor Day weekend Bay Bridge lower deck closure. While they can be expected to promote their product no matter what, I believe they’ve got a valid Read the rest of this entry »

Being a commuter student, I never had to worry about not having a car. No, parking was my big problem, and it dogged me until I got a coveted sticker to the lot behind the dining hall where the student newspaper kept its offices.

But Flexcar, one of the area’s three car-sharing services, is going to solve that problem for students at U.C. Berkeley later this month. They’re going to become the first car-sharing service to offer membership to drivers under 21.

What a noble gesture. It’s like, well, giving credit cards to students. I had one of those when Read the rest of this entry »