Ever tried going without your car for a whole month?
That’s what 300 people across North America who took part in Zipcar’s Low-Car Diet Challenge have been doing since July 21.
The world’s largest car-sharing service, Zipcar challenged drivers in 12 U.S. and Canadian cities to go “car-free” for 30 days and get around instead by walking, cycling, using Zipcar and public transit.
“It was really, really annoying in the beginning,” says Sebastian Han, a technical writer who lives in New York state and commutes across the border to his job in Ontario.
By car Han’s commute usually takes only about 20 minutes, but using public transit it took an hour and a half, which he says made it difficult at first. However, he persisted and soon began to see some benefits.
“I first took the bus, but then I started walking more and taking my time. I hadn’t been exercising too much so it became a good excuse to exercise as well; I started jogging part of the way to work.”
Han normally drives a Smart car and his gas bill only comes to about $50 - $60 a month, “but when you count insurance and the leasing fee it goes up to around $300 easily. So when you compare that to $100 metro pass it’s a big saving,” he says.
For participants in the challenge, which ends on Friday, Zipcar waived its annual membership fee of $55 and provided $200 worth of free driving credit as well as some public transit passes.
“We really wanted to let people know how easy it is to access the city without owning a vehicle,” says Kate Sanderson, Zipcar marketing manager for Toronto.
Zipcar provides fleets of fuel efficient vehicles in cities across the U.K., the U.S. and in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada, delivering a wireless car-sharing service that has become “wildly popular” since gas prices went up, says Sanderson.
The cars wait in parking garages and in the street, and members can access them by using a “zipcard” after reserving the car they want by phone or online. Rates start at $9.75 per hour and $69 per day and include gas, parking, insurance and maintenance.
Zipcar estimates that since it went into business, its service has taken more than 90,000 personally-owned vehicles off the streets.
While recognizing that “it’s a huge thing to ask someone to give up their personally-owned vehicle,” Sanderson says the hope is that some participants in the Low-Car Diet will not go back to using their car.
It wasn’t a big switch for lawyer Veronica Armstrong to participate in the Low-Car Diet because she already took public transit to her office in Vancouver from her home in Richmond.
However, on days when she had to run errands after work, she would always take her car, a 1994 Mazda, shelling out $30 in parking fees on those days.
Armstrong found that using a Zipcar (she usually chose a Toyota Yaris Hatchback) to do her running around worked well, and saved money in parking fees and fuel costs. Conveniently, there happened to be some Zipcars parked in the parkade across the street from her office.
“What is interesting is that I’m finding now that I’m rather reluctant to drive my car over the weekends. I think I’m more aware now that I should be using the car more economically,” she says.
Armstrong was planning to replace her Mazda with a newer model but now she’s having second thoughts “because there is an alternative.”
As for Han, while on the Low-Car Diet he got fit, lost weight and saved some money. But is he ready to ditch his car for good?
“I want to give up using the car but the freedom is hard to give up. Giving up the car permanently would be a tough choice and I’m still undecided on that. Maybe in the summer again but I don’t think I can do without the car in winter.”
