What you have here is basically a topically-focused international communications program. What we are doing here, in effect, is using technology to help those of us who care about these things to "put our heads together" on the topic of carsharing to the end of helping develop more and better projects, as a significant step in the much broader process of creating more sustainable transportation systems. We have run into some difficulty in the past in communicating, to some people and groups at least, the sheer simplicity of our motives in doing this. I guess that is really a rather sad commentary on the way that most of us have come to organize our lives, actions and priorities, not only out there in the blatant world of (gasp!) commerce, but even in such supposedly more open and cooperative worlds as that of academe and government. Truth to tell, if carsharing is an activity that has a hard time in getting genuine support, then sharing on carsharing, such as we are proposing here, turns out to be hardly less welcome in many quarters.

That said, our position is that carsharing is a terrific idea whose time has come -- though we also have to note that experience shows that there are an awful lot more ways of getting it wrong than right, and that is where the sharing and collaboration across projects, institutions and even countries has to come in. In the old days, information and insight such as is badly needed to make such tough, path-breaking socio-technical enterprises work often ended up getting stuck in some kind of corner. Either someone had locked the report away in his drawer for his use in his good time (and it was usually, if not always, a male who was doing this... in the good old days), or, often as not, the information and perspective that others might find so useful just never "got out" even in report form. Anther way of burying what might be useful information has been the tactic of "studying it to death", whereby some members of the research community all too often tended to became "proprietors" of the very information and insight that could, in other forms, possibly be so useful to people out there in the field who need help and direction. Be that as it may, the end result is that until very recently anyway, most would-be carshare developers ended up operating on their own and without much help from outside. That too has exacted its costs.

We also in this preamble should bring up the point that these are the sorts of innovations which in most places seem to be unable to come up with much support in the necessary places. Until now, at least, there have been few carsharing projects that seemed to hold promise of making anyone very rich. If it is easy to whip up industrial, governmental and political support for a new billion dollar metro or urban highway, that is perhaps not so surprising since all that good money has to go somewhere. In fact, with carsharing in some ways it works out in quite the other direction, since a carsharing project that works well is, in point of fact, going to decrease the flow of materials, products and money through the overall system. So, if you think about it for a minute you can appreciate how something along these lines will, by virtue of its very simplicity and economy, not only have few friends, but also quite a formidable array of, if not exactly enemies, well not exactly firms, institutions and savvy players that are rooting for its success.

Carsharing is interesting on sustainability grounds precisely for these same reasons. What it does - unlike most big capital investment projects in the transportation field - is create a situation of external, not dis-economies, but economies. Every time a shared car takes the place of a one-owner vehicle, three or four parking places are freed for other and certainly better social uses. A shared car destined to operate primarily in an urban environment can be much more closely tailored to its use patters, with considerable potential for environmental and energy savings. A family that casts off one of its cars and moves to a well run carsharing arrangement can save thousands of dollars and many weeks of work each year, that can be invested in other areas where surely there are competing needs.

My point in this is neither to pose as a transportation revolutionary nor to make the definitive argument for carsharing - and as far as the latter is concerned you will find a great deal of first class information is already available on that and accessible easily through this site. However, I do wish to point up the fact that this is an area of human invention and behavior where good communications between simple citizens and local groups with intersts in this area can be very very important. We may not have all that many allies locally when first starting out, but we certainly do have peers and interested and knowledgeable people in other places who may be able to be of help.

This of course is where the Net and all the related communications technologies and tools that are now coming on line come in so very handily. We now at long last have the means for efficient sharing, and the next question is how can we go about moving from the general and interesting to the specific and useful on this.

To an extent the whole issue is already sorting itself out on the Net. All you have to do is call up your favorite browser, pop in carshare, carsharing, "car sharing", or something along those lines and you will quickly get literally thousands of leads and sources. that of course will discourage those who wish to be discouraged, but anyone with enough energy and wit will soon home in on what are clearly the most interesting sources of information and insight both on the topic in general and on whatever specific project or approach as might be of immediate interest.

Still, we felt as we began to look at all this in early 1998 in order to carry out our once-every-ten-year look into carsharing activities and prospects, that there was a need for a handy international source that could be not only informed on the subject, but also fully independent in its point of view, and -- why not? -- also deeply interested in the really important underlying issue which, in our view at least, is that of the need for us all to move toward more sustainable transportation systems, and as quickly as possible. That is the challenge that we decided to try to address, and what you have here is the result of our labors in this direction over the last year.

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Discussion, Exchange and Background Resources

You are going to find that one of the most valuable resources available to you as you move ahead in planning your program, in addition to your own intelligence, dedication and unfailing energies, will be the background materials, ideas and counsel that others are willing to share with you, as a result of their study and hard-earned experience. The tools or mechanisms available for these exchanges are several, and can be expected to multiply, unfold and take shape as this movement takes shape and advances. We would like to introduce you here to four useful supporting "electronic tools" that are already available and under development.

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@CarShare Forum

To make things easy, all you have to do is fill in the following with your email address, click and wait for rapid confirmation and instructions for participation by return email. It's that simple. Drop on in.

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Working the Ring

The WebRing is a handy device that is being created to allow visitors to identify and "tour" what we regard to be the outstanding sources in information and insight on carsharing around the world. Here it is, ready for your use. (But if you want more background first, please go to the Commons CarShare WebRing).

Is your Web site one that you think should be added to the Ring for others to visit and consult? If so, you can register in a minute right here!

		This WebSite is managed by The Commons  [ Next | Previous | List Sites | Home ] Click here to join the CarShare Consortium WebRing

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