It s not often that the physical manifestation of an app or Web service appears on the curb in front

It s not often that the physical manifestation of an app or Web service appears on the curb in front of your house. But that s how I look at the funny little Car2Go vehicles that have appeared on the streets of Seattle, a service that I ve been testing for several months.
Keys are inside, along with a credit card to refuel if necessary. Gas and parking even at meters throughout Seattle are included in the 38 cents per minute rental price. Hourly rentals are $14 and daily rentals are $73.
It s also fun to find a car on the street, take it for a spin and just leave it somewhere else in town. This is almost like a real-life version of the Grand Theft Auto video games, especially if you drive like crazy to minimize your per-minute charge.
I don t buy the eco rhetoric about car-sharing services, but there s no doubt we ll see more traditional services such as auto rentals migrate car rental burnaby vancouver bc to on-demand systems like Car2Go uses. It blends first-rate mobile apps with location services, in-vehicle displays, wireless infrastructure car rental burnaby vancouver bc and reservation software, enabling 18,000 users to easily share and find 430 cars spread across 52 square miles of the city.
But Car2Go rentals ended up costing more than I expected car rental burnaby vancouver bc much more than a bus ride and availability isn t predictable enough to count on the service for important appointments. The cars always seem to be scarce when I need one the most, and you can reserve one only 30 minutes in advance.
I m also concerned about the sweetheart deal Car2Go received from the city of Seattle. The city is shafting residents and businesses with aggressive parking charges and sanctimonious transportation schemes, while letting Car2Go use public-parking spaces for next to nothing.
The company is paying car rental burnaby vancouver bc $1,330 per car per year for unlimited parking throughout the city, even at metered spots. A metered spot downtown might otherwise cost $10,000 per year, and private garages may charge $2,400 or more per year.
Under terms of its agreement with the city, the company is required to provide an annual report detailing how much its cars used metered parking, based on GPS data, and pay more if they use more than $1,030 worth of metered parking. Still, the cars are exempt from some general parking restrictions. City ordinance says they can use time-limited parking spaces or stalls without regard to the posted time.
Car2Go cars aren t continuously parked, though near my office in South Lake Union they seem to arrive in the morning and stay put until the evening commute, car rental burnaby vancouver bc using up many of the scarce parking spots.
Car2Go is one of several short-term car rental outfits that call themselves car sharing services and use online services to expedite reservations. They ve positioned themselves as environmentally friendly because they offer new options to people who use multiple modes of transportation, potentially reducing car ownership.
The concept was pioneered in Seattle by Flexcar, which in 2000 began providing hourly rentals to customers who bought yearly memberships. Flexcar merged in 2007 with rival Zipcar, which was sold earlier this year to rental giant Avis Budget Group.
Lately there s a wave of startups offering car services via apps. Some, such as Uber and Flywheel, car rental burnaby vancouver bc provide towncars and taxis on call. Others, such as Lyft and Zimride, are apps that let people rent out their personal cars or give rides in return for a donation.
Car2Go feels like a startup, with its modern software interface, smart use of mobile devices and groovy vibe. But it s owned by Daimler, the huge German conglomerate that makes everything car rental burnaby vancouver bc from Freightliner semis to the minuscule two-seat Smart cars used by Car2Go. Daimler is expanding Car2Go around the world; it s now in seven countries and 17 cities.
Another had to be rebooted, literally. A customer-service rep talked me through the process on the phone. You press and hold a button on the navigation/reservation car rental burnaby vancouver bc system on the dashboard. Then I was booted out because I lost my reservation when the software was reset. No other cars were available nearby so I took a bus home.
Several times I flubbed the login process, forgetting to tap my card on the windshield when I left the car, or tapping too many times when I started, resulting in charges for trips when the car was stationary.
Using Car2Go to and from work, trips of two to three miles ranged from $4.45 to $8.02, each way, including taxes. The same trip on a bus would cost $2.50. Either option usually requires a walk of several blocks to reach a vehicle.
My commute usually takes about 10 minutes. Most people in Seattle have longer ones; their mean travel time to work is 25 minutes, car rental burnaby vancouver bc according to census data. Using Car2Go to commute, they d spend $9.50 each way.
The idea isn t to use Car2Go for your daily drive, though. It s on-demand transportation that s particularly handy for people making short trips, particularly those who want another way to get around close-in neighborhoods.