We think, and indeed a number of you have told us kindly and often, that we are doing a useful job here. But as the bard said, 'The times they are a-changin', so we thought that this is as good a time as any to run a group query -- reaching out to the more than five hundred in all who regularly check in and who themselves know more about carsharing than the rest of the world put together -- to see what it is they and you have to say about (a) the state of carsharing in your city and your own life from a user perspective, (b) that state of the art as seen from the vantage of the C/SO's, and more generally (c) about where we here in The Commons should be looking to be most useful to advance the carshare agenda over the remainder of this decade. There are thus two surveys in this little series: users and operators.

Survey 1: User Outreach (Also for those considering carsharing as an option)

The goal of this first survey is to see if we can, with the help of our C/SO operator friends, collect the views of a range of carshare users in different places. The survey is organized in four short parts, with the survey form itself and results to be available at all times on the site:

1. User self-identification
2. Me and carsharing
3. My views of carsharing
4. My message to World CarShare

• Click here for the User Survey
• Click here to see the results to date

We hope that once you have had a good look at the pre-survey form and let us know about the needed changes and improvements, you will then want to make an effort to invite a selection of your members to come to the site and share with you and us their views and appreciations. (And since as an operator you are also doubtless a user yourself, you might want to fill in the survey reflecting your perspectives as a user.)

Will you be giving away any trade secrets in this process? Based on our experience we rather think not -- but we have made provision in the survey so that others will if you wish not be able to identify the C/SO in question or even the city. In this way, if you prefer you can ask your users to respect your privacy, but at the same time provide valuable feedback for the group as a whole, and of course for yourselves.

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To this end we have prepared the Operator Survey which is being formally announced and initiated on 20 June 2005. As with the User Survey, both the questionnaire and the results will be available on line for your use at all times. And in both cases, what you will have here is the unedited content as provide by the respondents.

• Clcik here for the Operator Survey
• Click here to see the results to date

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Pre-Survey? What's that?

Note of 20 June 2005: The first step in this process is a 'pre-survey' stage for both outreaches. So , for today as a first step we invite you to have a look here, to play with it from your point of view, and then let us know how in your view this might be extended or modified (or shortened) in order to be useful to us all. We will then work with this feedback and counsel and bring the more definitive full survey for the group as a whole on line in early July.

Proposed Timetable

• 14-20 June: Pre-survey, unannounced posting on site and private comments
• 20-30 June: Formally posted and announced. Comments invited from group
• July: Full survey, open to public
• August: Report on findings and conclusions

PS. And if you know of anyone or some group that may want to get involved in this focused brainstorming process, let us know. We will get right back to them with whatever they need to get on line.