How I Learned That Peer-to-Peer Car-Sharing Perpetuates Urbanism: My First Trip with RelayRides

On a recent Thursday, I had to make an early morning work trip north of the Golden Gate  Bridge to the desolate transit wasteland of Marin County. Being car-free, I would normally head down the block to my trusty neighborhood Zipcar, but this day was different – I had recently signed up for peer-to-peer car sharing start-up RelayRides and decided I needed to give them a try so that I could report back on the service to the trusty readers of this blog (the free credit they give to anyone who signs up might’ve influenced my decision as well, in the interest of full disclosure).

My mind was first opened to the idea of peer-to-peer car sharing at TransportationCamp West, an “unconference” of urban planning officials and transportation enthusiasts in San Francisco last March. For the uninitiated, peer-to-peer car-sharing allows drivers to rent out their cars by the hour. Wide-eyed representatives from RelayRides and fellow start-up GetAround explained how their model was superior to that of car-sharing stalwart Zipcar since it used cars that are already on the street.  I was impressed by their enthusiasm – they seem dedicated to the idea that this model of car-sharing would promote more balanced mode choices by providing a financial incentive for drivers and making it easier for more people in more neighborhoods to go car-free.

I had this enthusiasm in my mind as I approached my street-parked “ride” that Thursday morning, a 2005 Toyota Prius. I held my membership card to the windshield hoping to hear the locks click in a manner that I’m familiar with from using Zipcar, but they did not. I glanced at my phone – yes, my reservation had indeed started a few minutes ago, but the car would not unlock. Being on a tight schedule, I quickly dialed RelayRides customer support to ask for help.

After being put on hold multiple times I was told that their web services were down – this was the reason I had not received a text message of the car’s exact location on the street, and this is why the doors would not unlock. I was further told that they could not access their administrative interface to pop the locks open for me remotely. I begrudgingly listened to their offer of reimbursing me for cab fare, but hailing a cab to carry me across the Bridge and back seemed far from ideal for this trip. As I briefly contemplated finding the owner of the car nearby and waking him up (I think this is probably frowned upon), the locks magically popped open and I finally started my trip to Marin, now half-a-hour behind schedule. I was not feeling good about RelayRides at this point.

The car itself was nice and quite clean – cleaner, I suspect, than my car would ever be if I owned one. But I worried that the infrastructure simply wasn’t as developed as Zipcar, concluding it wasn’t quite ready for prime time. This suspicion was reinforced when, after stepping out of the car at my destination, I was not able to start it again for about 15 minutes. In the defense of RelayRides I’ve used the service with different cars four times since then and haven’t experienced this problem on any other occurrence, so perhaps a freak outage really was the cause.

My appreciation for the service didn’t fully set in until later, when I noticed the hand-written note from the owner wishing me a good trip. He’d also included some tips for driving the car and using the accessories included, even inviting me to wear the sunglasses left in the glove compartment. I realized that the personal touch of this service is what makes it so appealing – I was driving my neighbor’s car, a neighbor I’d never met and will likely never meet. By keeping the money local and borrowing a car that is already parked on the street, I was unknowingly perpetuating one of my favorite aspects of living in a cosmopolitan city – the informal show of respect between neighbors that seems to exist only in urban areas, the very thing that suburban neighborhoods discourage with their single-use areas, privacy fences and cul-de-sacs.

If they can get the technology right – and a recent partnership with GM and forthcoming smartphone apps suggests that they can – RelayRides has the potential to really drive more people to car-free or car-light lifestyles. It exists as a neighborhood solution to encourage better mode choices, and it is yet another tool to help city dwellers embrace the car-free lifestyle without making any sacrifices. With lower prices per hour than Zipcar, it’s an easy choice to make when your travels take you beyond the reach of commuter buses and trains.