Like many of you I desperately want to do better for the environment. But, also like many of you, I find the alternatives to driving a car within Canberra a bit…erm…lacking.
Being a small town we have some decent but limited bus services, but no trains, trams, ferries or light rail. So it can be a bit hard to get around without owning a car.
[Just a few days ago I was in Brisbane, visiting my birthplace and parents. Also travelling with me was my born-in-Canberra girlfriend who couldn’t believe that major bus services ran late on Sunday nights every 15mins. It wasn’t until we were standing outside the stop (with cool LED bus times displayed above) that she believed me.]
One solution which I think may suit canberra well is the Zipcar-like service. Basically it works like this:
- Become a member, pay a bond and a monthly fee.
- When you need a car, look on the web for one thats close to you, and book it
- Walk to the car, parked in a dedicated on-road park.
- Drive around as much as you like, incur a reasonable hourly rate + per/km rate. Cheaper than normal rental car
- Return to one of the designated parking spots. Eg. Sydney map for Goget’s parking ‘pods’:
In Australia, there are two companies I know that offer this:
http://www.goget.com.au/ and http://flexicar.com.au
Goget, for example, services Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, but not Canberra. And although Canberra is small in population, I would think it’s ranking as the highest income-per-capita city might make it a reasonable market. live in the Kingston/Manuka area and think it would be a perfect candidate for a park.
I’m asking here for support — if, like me, you’d like these cool services to come to our nations capital, just go here:
http://www.goget.com.au/register-interest-problem.html
https://flexicar.wufoo.com/forms/registering-to-keep-up-to-date-on-flexicar/
Thanks for your help! It’s much appreciated.