The coolest thing about Zipcar’s new FastFleet service isn’t the technology–it’s the buzz. Photo by dominiccampbell.
In response to yesterday’s post about Zipcar’s launch of FastFleet, a municipal fleet management service, Clayton Lane, the chief operating officer of EMBARQ and co-founder of PhillyCarShare, shares his opinion about what’s new and why we should care.
The Story is the Story
By Clayton Lane
Chief Operating Officer
EMBARQ - The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport
This is a great PR “win” for sustainable transportation. But the real innovation here isn’t the cool technical solution, which is very “2004.” It’s the buzz. Zipcar and D.C. are recycling a truly sustainable solution and making a big fuss about it. For that, they deserve our compliments. Read the rest of this entry »
Zipcar launches pilot program to lease fleet management technology to D.C. government vehicles. Photo by katmere.
The latest car-sharing model to hit the streets could save millions of taxpayer dollars, reduce pollution, and make it easier to beat the morning commute.
The one-of-a-kind service is called FastFleet, a new fleet management system designed specifically for the municipal and federal sector. And it’s run by Zipcar, the largest car-sharing company in the world. Read the rest of this entry »
GOOD magazine published its jam-packed, 112-page “Transportation Issue,” devoted to a “drastic rethinking of how we move around, how we design our cities, and how we power our vehicles.”
Seattle’s streetcar, a.k.a. the South Lake Union Trolley (affectionately abbreviated as S.L.U.T.), not only moves people but also moves ideas. Photo by WintrHawk.
Fast Company named Seattle the “City of the Year” in its annual “Fast City” issue, which handpicks cities around the world that exhibit “smarts, foresight, social consciousness [and] creative ferment.”
San Francisco was chosen for its innovative public-private partnership that gives citizens access to bank accounts and financial education. Taipei was noted for its “zero land fill, total recycling” by 2010 plan. And New York got praise for its high-tech counterterrorism efforts.
But we at The City Fix were drawn to some other initiatives — greener, smarter, “faster” ideas about sustainable transportation and urban planning. We read the whole issue — so you don’t have to — and here are some highlights: Read the rest of this entry »
Washington prepares for Obama’s inauguration. Photo by martinstelbrink of Flickr.
Plans for President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, scheduled for Jan. 20, have caused local transport groups in the Washington, D.C. area to consider new and flexible options to help travelers commute downtown for the historic swearing-in ceremony, which is expected to draw at least 2 million people to the nation’s capital.
Obama himself will be taking the train, following in President Abraham Lincoln’s footsteps, from Philadelphia. [USAToday.com]
In efforts to fight growing needs for unsightly parking lots, many universities have discovered a variety of options focused on separating academics and students from their cars.
The University of Washington provides free bike rentals including electric bikes to help cope with the campus’s fortunate but challenging location atop one of Seattle’s hilly districts. Emory University offers discounts for bikes and free bike rentals, while Duke University provides 1-3 day bike rentals. University of Buffalo has a seasonal bike-sharing program, and St. Xavier University in Chicago is one of the first to use a computerized bike sharing program. University of New England and Ripon College have gone so far as to give incoming freshman new bicycles for leaving their cars at home and/ or providing free zip car credits. However not all programs are created equally. Read the rest of this entry »
The Eierlegendewollmilchsau is a most unique creature. In addition to having a very long German name, it is capable of providing an amazing amount of bounty for one animal. It can lay eggs, grow wool, provide milk, and even bacon - all from one animal. Literally translated, Eierlegendewollmilchsau means “Egg Laying Wool Milk Sow”.
But there is a catch. Sadly, the Eierlegendewollmilchsau doesn’t really exist. It is a mythical creature that has come to symbolize the concept of “all-in-one” and is mythical because nothing exists that can combine so many useful and beneficial features in one place. There is, however, a city in northwestern Germany that has come close.
Bremen, Germany has succeeded in creating a completely integrated transportation network that is entirely accessible with a single card called - you guessed it - the Eierlegendewollmilchsau. A passenger can easily ride their bike on one of Bremen’s well maintained bike lanes, catch a light rail train, take a bus across town, rent a car from a convenient car-sharing kiosk, and even do some banking at an ATM, all with this one card. It’s a great example of planning a system that puts a priority on user convenience and treats many different types of transportation as seamless, purposefully linked and overlapping. By keeping the ease of use of the passenger in mind more people are more inclined to use it, ultimately making for a healthier environment and higher quality of life.
Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar, joins TheCityFix.com as a regular contributor. Robin will be cross posting select items from her personal blog, Network Musings, where she’s been writing on the world of sustainable transportation.
Robin Chase is founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. GoLoco helps people quickly arrange to share car trips of all lengths between trusted friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and handles online payments from passengers to drivers for their share of the trip costs. GoLoco’s innovative combination of social networks and online payment systems recasts how we think about car travel, making it a time for socializing and with a new emphasis on trip efficiency, in order to reduce per passenger costs.
Robin is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world. Zipcar’s use of the Internet and wireless technology enables rental cars to emulate personal cars. Zipcar’s disruptive technology gives its members on-demand access to cars by-the-hour, revolutionizing people’s relationship to their cars and improving the quality of urban life for all. Read the rest of this entry »
Flickr photo by 
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