Uber, ZipCar, Lyft… you probably get to hear these names every now and then but what do they stand for? Shortly – car sharing services or ride sharing.
The concept of car sharing and its practical implementation is not that old but its usage has increased dramatically over the last few years. The advance in technology has enabled us to get the benefits of this evolving phenomenon. Vehicles and software, both play an important role in the development of the concept. In the beginning, the concept of rent a car service was considered as car sharing. It was either charged per hour or per day. But as the technology started impacting our society this concept also changed. Now car sharing means that if you want to go anywhere you just have to pay for that particular ride and there are many companies ready to help you with that.
Car sharing has allowed families to own just 1 vehicle instead of many with that being enough. If anyone in a family needs to go somewhere when the family car is occupied, he or she just has to contact a car sharing service and ask for a ride. Various applications for smartphones and tablets are available for download which makes it really simple to find a car when you need one. You just ask for a ride and the company provides you with one at an affordable rate. To start using benefits of carsharing services you will first have to register with them by creating an account. There are some differences between the services but generally you can either be a user/passenger or a driver/car provider.
If we take a look at the current situation, car sharing has given tough competition to alternative transit services like Shuttles, micro transit etc.
Despite the fact that the car sharing concept is not that old it has still made some achievements in a rather short time. Services that came to this industry first hit the market and achieved success. As indicated by Navigant Research, worldwide car sharing services income is relied upon to develop from $1.1 billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion in 2024.
Here are some of the top carsharing services in the US which you can take advantage of.
• Lyft
Lyft says they are the fastest growing ride sharing service and currently working in 190 cities around the world. It has also started multi-ride sharing that co-ordinates with the concept of the car pool. You can register as a driver or a passenger. Pick up other lyft members on your trips and benefit. It’s as simple as that.
• Uber
Aside from their self-driving project, Uber is similar to Lyft. You can either become a driver or hire one to drive you. Uber offers a variety of vehicles to choose from no matter if you need an economy ride or a premium. If you are looking for the cheapest fare and you don’t mind having other passengers on board or maybe you are driving yourself and thinking of cutting the cost of your trip take a look at uberPOOL option wich will split the cost among the riders giving you the best fare possible.
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• Zipcar
Now, ZipCar is a bit different from the previous two services. It is more like a car rental service but much more flexible. With ZipCar you only pay for the time you borrow a car for plus you can do this online or right from your phone thru the ZipCar app and moreover gas and insurance are already included. With some planning ZipCar could really become one of your best friends.
• Enterprise Car Share
This company was majorly known as car rental company but they had also started car sharing business some 10 years ago and is going on successfully.
• Car2go
Its available in 15 north American cities and its unique characteristic is that you can pay 41 cents per minute and it will have no basic and fixed charges.