for about the last 20 years my wife and
i have had a pretty simple rule
if we don't need to drive to work we
don't need to own a car
this was pretty easy when we lived in
central london because the public
transit system was so exceptional
but in other cities like toronto public
transit and cycling could only take us
so far
because the few walkable parts of
toronto are surrounded by a sprawling
suburban wasteland that is only
accessible by car
and of course we also needed a car
because intercity passenger trains suck
so much in canada
so in a city that's designed incorrectly
a car will sometimes be necessary and
for that we would rely on car sharing
in my experience people don't understand
just how easy car share programs have
become
you literally open the app choose a car
and you can be driving in less than five
minutes
it's so easy it's ridiculous but i'll
talk about that in more detail
later in this video when talking about
car share
most people seem to think it's like a
rental car and they associate it with
the horrible experience of renting a car
while on vacation
and let's face it renting a car sucks
you have to book it in advance you
usually have to physically go to the
rental car agency
and when you get there you'll end up
waiting in line just so you can go talk
to some person who will type in all of
your information into a computer
even though you already did it online
and then
they'll tell you they don't actually
have the car you reserved but they'll
provide you with a
free upgrade to a crappy suv that
consumes twice as much gas
so when people think about not owning a
car they usually think about this rental
car process and how painful it is
but that's not the way modern car share
works
car sharing has been around for a long
time possibly as far back as the 1940s
there was even an all-electric car
sharing service called vitkar
that was launched in amsterdam in 1974.
talk about being ahead of their time
we signed up for our first car share
service in 2003 when
we joined auto share in toronto back
then the service was really basic
we were given a key to a lock box that
contained the keys to a car and we
booked our time slots using a 1990s
style website
keeping track of mileage and fuel was
entirely paper-based but the concept
worked well enough
these days however all car share systems
are app-based and you can do everything
from booking a car
to unlocking the doors all from your
smartphone
today there are many different car share
programs available but generally they
can be classified into two groups
what i'm calling fixed and free floating
they both have their own advantages and
disadvantages so we maintain memberships
with several different services
the oldest type of car sharing program
is the fixed kind and our service in
toronto is like this
this is where cars are parked throughout
the city in fixed locations
with this kind of design you start to
get used to where cars are in your
neighborhood and what kind of cars are
available
after a while we started to settle into
using our favorite cars and admittedly
it was nice to get a familiar car that
always remembered our bluetooth
connections
in a fixed car share system you
typically need to book your time slot in
advance and you have to return it back
to the place where you picked it up
this makes it difficult to use a car
spontaneously but it has the benefit of
ensuring that your car is always there
when you've booked it so in this sense
they're like traditional rental cars but
with many more locations and you never
need to wait in line or speak to an
employee to get your car
a big benefit of fixed car share is that
they typically have lots of different
kinds of cars and vans
so you can take whichever vehicle you
need for the trip you're taking
when people used to ask us what kind of
car we owned we used to joke that we had
a fleet of them
and this is ridiculously useful
if i was just driving somewhere by
myself or with a few other people i
would get a small fuel-efficient car
that's cheap and easy to drive
but if i had to go buy a sheet of
plywood or move a bunch of large items i
could get a cargo van like this one
that fits everything perfectly it always
made me laugh while
easily loading my car share cargo van
outside of the hardware store and seeing
other people in the parking lot trying
to squeeze a bunch of oversized stuff
into their crappy suv that holds way
less than they think it does
so here they are driving around in this
bloated piece of garbage vehicle for
every trip everywhere they go and the
one time they actually need it
it's not big enough car share solves
that problem
so even when we owned our own cars we
still kept our car share service active
to maintain access to the fleet of cars
and fans when we needed them
so car share doesn't just let people go
car free it also lets two car households
become single car households and it
makes it easier for people to buy
smaller cheaper vehicles too
the other type of car share service is
what i call the free floating kind and
it seems to be the way that most new
app-based car share services work
free-floating car share means that cars
can be parked almost anywhere
you don't need to book them in advance
and you can return them wherever it's
convenient
these systems are ideal for spontaneous
trips and they allow you to take one-way
trips as well
instead of being like a rental car
they're more like a taxi that you drive
yourself
except way cheaper for example a few
months ago i took a one-way trip with my
kids within the city and the bill came
out to 2 euros and 10 cents yeah
i had to drive myself but i've never
paid that little for a taxi
in a developed nation now of course
not all trips are necessarily that short
and cheap but from our car share
experience we found it best not to think
too much about the
individual cost of a trip rather just
think about the monthly cost
compared to owning your own car sure it
might have cost us say
15 to go to the big grocery store in the
suburbs which is a lot for a single trip
but when we get the bill at the end of
the month we'd usually find that all of
our trips combined added up to less than
100 bucks
and that includes everything the car the
fuel
the insurance the cleaning the
maintenance even the windshield wiper
fluid
so we had access to a car whenever we
needed it but it cost us less than just
the insurance did
when we used to have our own vehicle
and yeah owning your own car can be a
great convenience but it can also be a
massive hassle too when i've owned cars
there were several times where i had
problems with them and it was my job to
get them fixed
for example the time my car's computer
malfunctioned and all my plans were
ruined while i spent the day waiting for
a tow truck
and for the mechanic to fix it and i was
at about 600 bucks by the end of the day
as well
car share cars are reliable and they're
well maintained
because it's in the company's best
interest to keep them in service
in 18 years and hundreds of car share
rides i've only had a problem once
and when that happened i called their
hotline they booked me another car
nearby and i just
left the broken car at the side of the
road for them to deal with
they even gave me a discount on my
rental for the trouble that's great
it's also nice not to have to worry
about getting my car damaged or having
to deal with insurance
or having my car broken into which has
happened to me
car sharing gives you access to a car
but it removes all of the stress
hassle and expense of owning your own
vehicle
every car share system we've used has
per minute rates
but they sometimes have discounts for
longer trips weekends
and multi-day trips as well for example
it's common to have a maximum rate of
say
five to eight hours per day and after
that you pay the 24 hour rate
so if we were planning a road trip we'd
usually pick up the car the night before
and park it right in front of our house
so it was ready to go the next morning
at no extra cost
for example one of the times we lived in
toronto our family used to drive to go
skiing every sunday in the winter
the daily rate at the time was 85 so our
car cost for those winter months was 340
dollars for four days of skiing
but of course other months of the year
we might not use it at all so then we'd
pay nothing
the average car spends 96 of its time
parked
but you're still paying for it to sit
there i like the idea that when i'm not
using the car
i'm not paying for it and i'm not
worrying about it either
that's a level of freedom you just don't
get with car ownership
you really have to be using a car more
than every single weekend
every week of the year before car share
comes anywhere close to the cost of
owning your own vehicle
which is why we had our policy if we
didn't need to drive to work
we didn't need to own a car even when we
had two kids
and we saved a hell of a lot of money
doing so
here in amsterdam we have a lot of
different car share services available
to us
all of this choice has given us the
luxury of being able to only use car
share programs that have electric
vehicles
because i generally think it's impolite
to give little kids asthma when i'm
going somewhere
the way these systems work is pretty
similar and they're generally the same
in other cities as well
so here's what a typical trip looks like
on a modern free-floating car share
service
first you open the app and you're
presented with a map of cars nearby
there are usually several cars within a
short walk but there have been a few
busy times that i've had to take a quick
bike ride out to pick up my preferred
car
some services only use one or two models
of car especially those that are owned
by a specific car
company other services have several
different makes and models and i've
enjoyed trying out every type of car
available
i can confidently say that the nissan
leaf is my favorite electric car
you select the car you want in the app
and it's reserved for 15 minutes giving
you enough time to get to the car
when you get to your car you take a
quick look around and check for any
damage
new damage can be reported in the app
you can also use the app to let them
know if the car
is dirty in my experience car share cars
are almost always clean
because people don't want to get charged
for leaving it dirty and the car share
company professionally cleans their cars
on a regular basis
you unlock the doors from the app
depending on the model of car you may
need to get the keys out of the glove
box but for most electric cars you never
need the keys because the app has
already unlocked it you just need to
press the start button
then you adjust the seat and mirrors
turn off whatever terrible radio station
the person before you is listening to
and that's it the whole process takes no
more than a minute or two and you're
ready to drive
you can take the car for as long as you
want and you can park it as necessary
the car share company will provide a
fuel card or fob to pay for any fuel or
electricity that you use
here in the netherlands there are public
car charging stations almost everywhere
and they work just by tapping a fob to
the charger
driving an electric car in the
netherlands is great but i'll talk about
that in more detail
in a future video we've often had car
chargers at our campgrounds or hotels
and as long as we've used the fob the
electricity is included in the cost of
the car share which is nice
the car share service gives you a credit
if you return the car with more fuel or
battery than when you picked it up so i
usually plug it in near my destination
when i return it
having a free-floating car share service
available is really useful
i can drive out to the pub and then take
a taxi or public transit home after
drinking
i can walk or take public transit to a
shop and then get a car to carry my
heavy purchases home
if i end up buying something as you can
tell
i'm a really big fan of car share
services and they've only become better
over the years
they allow us to live in a walkable
urban environment and save a lot of
money on transportation
while still having access to a car or
cargo van when we need it
i don't ever plan on owning a car again
because i find them more trouble than
they're worth
and here in amsterdam a properly
designed city a car is rarely the best
way to get around
plus nearly the whole country is
accessible with a combination of bicycle
plus train
but it's nice to know in those rare
times when i do need one or want to
drive one
i still have a car available in fact i
have a whole fleet of them
i'd like to thank my supporters on
patreon who pay me to drive through
amsterdam get out of my way you bloody
cyclists
if you'd like to support the channel and
get access to bonus videos visit
patreon.com
not just bikes
you