When Henry Ford introduced the Model T more than 100 years ago, the automobile became the symbol of carefree convenience.
Now, with the cost of car ownership escalating along with environmental concerns, cars can sometimes be thought of as a necessary evil.
What if you could give up a car but still retain some of the convenience of ownership through a car sharing service? Operations such as Zipcar, Modo and BCAA's Evo charge you a fee to join and a low hourly rate but take responsibility for the vehicle purchase, gas, maintenance, insurance, roadside assistance and even dealing with ICBC in an accident.
Could this be an idea whose time has come now that Evergreen Line will soon come to the Tri-Cities to offer a rapid transit option for residents? Hundreds of people in this region think so and are signing up for car sharing, and the services are adding more vehicles to allow people to do all those other errands without the hassle of car ownership.
Interesting idea. What would Henry Ford think?
