The Chainlink

Sorry, yet another car thread.

From time to time I need use of a small pickup truck (like today would be really nice) for rehabbing and landscaping needs.

Looks like Zip-car has a pickup at Milwaukee/Western/Armitage, and I-Go at Chicago and Damen, which are roughly equidistant.

My main question-- there are very few of this type of vehicle available from either agency, and it's really the only reason I would sign up-- are the vehicles you want generally available when you need them? Or are there frequent times when everything is checked out?

Also-- Yelp has a few reviews suggesting the I-Go experience has really tanked over the last year-- have people found this?

Thanks.

(And please no obligatory mention of the trucks at Home Depot or Menard's-- you can't use them unless you currently have car insurance.)

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TS and I haven't really been dotting all the i's so, to be precise, I'm suggesting that car share depends on a core car-less population with middle-class or above wealth levels.   TS is correct that a car-less population correlates with a certain level of density, but my point was that disposable income levels trump that. 

Of the areas you mention, take Pilsen for example.   Density is definitely higher than average for Chicago and has an average household net worth of $280K, which isn't shabby at all.   I wouldn't call the area "affluent", but there's definitely a reasonably-sized middle-class population.  And yet, while density is much higher than Evanston, car share availability is much higher in (East) Evanston because disposable income levels are much higher.

My main point is that car share isn't designed to serve the transportation needs of the poor.  And the relative paucity of availability on the south and west sides isn't because of neglect of the car share companies, but largely because the economic demographics of the area don't fit the consumer profile necessary to support the business model.

Anne Alt said:

I-Go is now in Berwyn, South Shore, Beverly and Pilsen - not all high density areas, not all affluent.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/doit/general/GIS/Chicag...

http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/doit/general/GIS/Chicag...

The areas on the northside have much smaller (area wise) tracks than the southwest side, so when you looks at the distribution map it can be deceiving.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfrieze/4037618743/sizes/o/in/photo...

Agree-- almost impossible to take much away from that second map due to the disparity in tract sizes, which I would assume were originally meant to follow percentage of residential vs. industrial or open space.

I thought I would revisit this considering the active thread about Zip-car being acquired by Avis.

Anyone know if there's a Richard Kosmacher with I-Go still? I last heard from him last May 31.

Still no cars in or near Little Village.  Haven't really heard much about I-Go for about 9 months or so.

h' 1.0 said:

Follow-up: after making a bunch of noise about wanting to place a vehicle near me, me scouting out an appropriate location, passing along others' info that said they would use a car in that location . . . my contact at I-Go seems to be disappeared permanently.

Final (?) tally:
Zip Car: 0 (no response at all)

i-Go: -1 for wasting my time with zero results and dropped communication.

I-Go has been celebrating - quite publicly, with some great events - their 10-year anniversary. There was even a citywide official I-Go carsharing day in December. 

http://www.igocars.org/news/

I am a member of both I-Go and Zip, but rarely Zip - I like the I-GO model better even if the zip cars and phone/email/mobile interfaces are fancier. 


h' 1.0 said:

I thought I would revisit this considering the active thread about Zip-car being acquired by Avis.

Anyone know if there's a Richard Kosmacher with I-Go still? I last heard from him last May 31.

Still no cars in or near Little Village.  Haven't really heard much about I-Go for about 9 months or so.

h' 1.0 said:

Follow-up: after making a bunch of noise about wanting to place a vehicle near me, me scouting out an appropriate location, passing along others' info that said they would use a car in that location . . . my contact at I-Go seems to be disappeared permanently.

Final (?) tally:
Zip Car: 0 (no response at all)

i-Go: -1 for wasting my time with zero results and dropped communication.

Yes, Richard Kosmacher is still with I-Go.  I just sent an inquiry in response to a message I got about changes to Beverly locations.  We had one location (Ridge Park).  Last year they added a second location (Beverly Unitarian Church, otherwise known as the Irish castle).  The people using I-Go the most are apparently closer to the Irish castle location, so usage has gone down a lot at Ridge Park (much closer to me).  They just removed the Ridge Park location, so now we're back to one location in my 'hood - a mile away from my house instead of 2 blocks away.  :(

The response came from Richard Kosmacher.  Ridge Park was a mixed bag - lots of parking conflicts with park users who didn't respect the reserved space.  He said they have no plans right now for a new second location, but might add a second car at the church if the car there (usually unavailable when I need it) doesn't meet demand.  :(

h' 1.0 said:

I thought I would revisit this considering the active thread about Zip-car being acquired by Avis.

Anyone know if there's a Richard Kosmacher with I-Go still? I last heard from him last May 31.

Still no cars in or near Little Village.  Haven't really heard much about I-Go for about 9 months or so.

h' 1.0 said:

Follow-up: after making a bunch of noise about wanting to place a vehicle near me, me scouting out an appropriate location, passing along others' info that said they would use a car in that location . . . my contact at I-Go seems to be disappeared permanently.

Final (?) tally:
Zip Car: 0 (no response at all)

i-Go: -1 for wasting my time with zero results and dropped communication.

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