Shut Up and Drive

Something that's fantastic for those of us who live in urban areas but don't have cars ... ZIP CARS! The basic philosophy is that you take out a membership with them, reserve your car, pick it up and then drive away. You don't have the worries involved with owning a car but you have the ease of getting around where public transit won't go.

Zip Cars are all through North America and in your particular area there are sure to be many pick-up and drop-off locations. What I also love about this is the company's green statement ...

"As the largest car sharing company in the world, we have learned through extensive research about the significant, positive environmental impact of car sharing. There are three major effects:

Members shed cars. Over 40% of our members decide against purchasing a car, or end up selling their car.

They drive less. Car usage of individuals is reduced by as much as 50%.

They use other transportation. Members use the most efficient means of transportation for the task — walking, biking, public transportation, taxi or Zipcar.

With each Zipcar replacing over 15 privately-owned vehicles, we're changing the urban landscape.
Older cars are replaced with new ones that have more stringent pollution controls.

Green space is preserved as fewer parking spaces are required to meet the driving needs of the same number of people.

Less strain on urban parking infrastructure — saving businesses, governments, and universities money.

Lower fuel consumption means fewer greenhouse gas emissions and particulates.

And yes, less congestion on the roads.

Zipcar is a critical element of the transportation network of many cities and universities, enabling residents, students and businesses to get rid of their cars and still meet their transportation needs.

At Zipcar, we also take pride in the fact that we promote a deeper sense of community as members within a small geographic area share a common resource and the money saved, reported by members to be over $5,000 per year, gets spent locally."