No Car – No Problem
Earlier this week I became a member of eGo Carshare. They just introduced two new cars to Downtown Denver (located at convenient on-street locations at 16th & Market and 16th & Glenarm) and since my husband and I only own one car, a service like this fits our needs perfectly, helps us stay green and save money by not having to own a second car.
Membership is fairly inexpensive, especially when you compare membership to the cost of owning a second car, and eGo has two options for membership – one with a low monthly fee and low hourly rates or another with no monthly fee but higher hourly rates.
It's easy to find your eGo - just look for the logo on the side of the car!
Yesterday I had a great opportunity to try out the service when I found out I had a business meeting at DIA. I went online earlier in the week and made a reservation for the car at 16th & Market and Thursday afternoon I headed down to the car to pick it up. The car was right where they said it would be (right next to the B-Cycle station at Market Street Station), clean and ready to head out with a full tank of gas. Driving out of town I decided to turn on some tunes and was pleased to find stations featuring everything from Talk of the Nation to Kanye West pre-programmed into the radio. After my meeting, I drove back to Downtown and “parked my eGo” in it’s own space on Market Street (and didn’t have to drive around looking for one!), locked the car and went on my way. Overall, it was a super easy experience and I am SO GLAD to now have this option available to me. Since I rarely have the opportunity to drive my own car into work, eGo Carshare is going to make mid-day appointments outside of Downtown Denver so much easier to get to.
While carsharing is new to Downtown Denver, carsharing has actually been around the United States for quite some time, particularly in cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco where car ownership is less common. However, it’s also very popular in cities like Portland and Seattle where households can usually get by on just one car and carshare membership helps out for those few times when two cars is necessary.
I also use eGo-Car share. I live in Capitol Hill where they have a car. And some drivers even leave great Car Share tunes to share. As well, I work in LoDo and they have a car at 18th and Lawrence near my office. I can’t tell you how convienent it is to have cars all over town for what ever errand I might need to run. I never need to worry about Dr. Appointments or a meeting across town. I haven’t had a car for over a year now and I’ve never missed it.
I donated a dual fuel gasoline/compressed natural gas pickup truck to the Boulder fleet. i use it now similar to when I owned it – the occasional run to the hardware store or to move things around. Only now the group can use it and the group pays the insurance, taxes, maintenance etc. Perhaps there is a someone in Denver with a similar vehicle available to help this great non profit organization grow!