One of the things that I love about living in a city is that I can walk everywhere.  Walk to the grocery store, walk to a restaurant, walk to work, walk wherever. During the summer, when it’s nice to run outside, I’m even able to integrate such errands into my runs, choosing a location suitably far away and running there, doing whatever shopping I need to do, then taking a train back. Nice urban lifestyle.

But I was still somewhat reluctant to not have a car at all. There are always, after all, those occasions where you could walk, run, take a train or bus, but life is so much easier if you have a car (IKEA, huge food shoppings and weekend getaways come to mind). So I had my car shipped out here, and over the course of a couple of months, it became clear to me the couple of times a month I actually used it did not nearly justify the cost of insurance, parking and payments (on the order of $600 a month). My father, whose at-the-tine-current car’s lease was coming up, graciously took over payments on it

A couple of months later, when my girlfriend came out here, we thought that since her car was already paid off, perhaps the reduced cost of ownership (insurance + parking) would make keeping a car in the city cost-effective. But, perhaps partly because we both enjoy walking so much, we ended up using the car even less, and even at a cost of $300 a month, for the once or twice we used the car, it just wasn’t really worth it. Her parents gladly took it off our hands and drove it back to New York.

Lesson learned: regardless of additional costs, the cost of mere parking alone (~$200 in downtown Chicago) is enough to make owning a seldomly-driven car very cost-ineffective. 

***

I’d heard a lot about car sharing services such as Zipcar and I-GO, which seemed like viable options for those “life is so much easier with a car” moments. After a bit of research on the web, we decided on I-GO; while the prices seemed pretty comparable, we preferred I-GO because it uses only energy-efficient vehicles (seemed to be in the spirit of the whole car sharing thing), and is a local not-for-profit organization.

While I could go on and on about why I think that car sharing is so nifty and progressive, the intent of this post is to look at I-GO from a service design and usability perspective, so I’ll save all that other idealist rambling for another time.

I’ve posted a Flickr photoset which shows some of the key components of the I-GO service, how they all fit together, and details some of the steps involved in using a car from the time you pick it up until the time you drop it off (I don’t get into the reservation process).

I-GO car parked in dedicated spot at Merchandise Mart

My overall impression is that the whole process is a bit overwhelming the first time around, but certainly manageable, and gets drastically easier to navigate with subsequent uses. Here, in no particular order, are some thoughts about my experience using I-GO thus far (I’ve used on two occasions for a total of three hours):

Perceived complexity

To be honest, I was pretty nervous the first time I took out a car. There is something inherently nerve-wracking about driving “someone else’s car,” and this feeling is magnified when their are novel procedures and novel artifacts to deal with. It’s not just a matter of learning how to use a key fob and getting familiar with the layout of a different car; beyond that, there are many other components in the ecosystem that you must manage or interact with: the I-GO card,  the card reader, and the console, to name a few.

The instructions on the I-GO site are clear and pretty simple, and they’ve even put together a concise quick-start Go Guide. Despite the excellent documentation, howeever, the inherent stress in driving an unfamiliar vehicle (and a Prius, nonetheless, it’s like a space pod) combined with the specialized equipment and new procedure made it such that the first time around was kind of stressful. Fortunately, there weren’t any actual hangups. The second time I took out the car, things seemed a whole lot easier as I started to become familiar with how things work.

Revamp the Keypad

I’ve only been a member of I-GO for a couple of months, apparently the keypad (what I’ve been calling the console) is new as of May 2007. I’m not sure what served this function prior to the rehaul.

Barring an emergency, the interaction with the keypad is fairly minimal: you need to remove the key fob from it at the outset of your reservation, and confirm that you’re back at the drop-off point and re-insert the key fob to complete your trip. But to be honest, it’s a pretty intimidating -looking device:

I-GO car keypad

 
  As I point out in the walkthrough on Flickr, they keypad’s screen is actually very helpful in giving step-by-step directions, giving you instructions for what the possible next actions are based on the current situtation (car started, car stopped, at final location, etc.) I’m sure that there are security concerns, and it is necessary to stash the keypad in the glove compartment, instead of keeping it out on the dashboard. Additionally, I realize that they wanted one solution to work with the many different models of cars in the I-GO fleet, and this is probably the best lowest-common-denominator option to deliver all the required functionality (e.g. as opposed to something specifically designed for the Prius which wouldn’t work in a Honda Fit).

Mix of high-tech, low-tech, and honor system

I’m really impressed with the way that I-GO has employed a mix of digital and analog solutions to handle all the core activities that comprise the overall act of ‘driving a car.’  Some things are managed by technology (the initial unlocking and final locking of the car with the key card), while others rely on more low-tech solutions (writing up a report about pre-existing damage on a carbon-copy paper pad).

Damage reports note pad

Driver's-side visor holds monthly parking keycard

In addition, there is a code of  ’rules’ that members must follow, so that the whole shared car arrangement runs smoothly. To give an example, if a car you’ve taken out runs below 1/4 tank of gas, you’re required to fill it up. You aren’t required to pay for the gas (that cost is covered by a supplied gas card), but you’re required to actually fill it up. There’s also rules like no pets without carriers, report pre-existing damage before you take out the car, make sure to clean up the car after use, etc. Because there’s no direct oversight — no one’s waiting  for you at the drop-off to check things out — it’s probably possible to get away with some minor infractions without being caught (and having to pay a fee), but things seem to get along pretty well with the existing system of rules; all the cars I’ve been in seem to be in great shape.

In a sense, this feels like a Frankenstein solution: many small individual parts cobbled together to make a coherent whole.  It’s a delicate balance, but one that works surprisingly well.  I would hope that a sense of shared ownership (after all, that’s what it is) and having a stake in such an exciting new revolution, would be enough to overcome the commons syndrome. 

I’d be interested to see how the service evolves over time. As new technologies become available, will they be integrated into the system to replace some of the current use cases which depend on the more low-tech or honor system solutions?

Changes the way I drive … and more

Perhaps the most importnat, and the most interesting effect of having used the I-GO service is that it really changes the way I drive, and how I view driving and cars.

A car is no longer a commodity, but a treat, to be reserved for special occasions. In fact, when I drive a car now, it feels too easy – like I’m cheating – like I should be walking instead. The act of driving is now a very conscious decision, one that can not be made on the spur of the moment, but which must be planned ahead of time, almost (but not quite as complicated) as booking a train or a flight. 

It really makes you think: must I drive, or can I just walk instead? And if I must drive, then I need to plan very carefully, because I need to know ahead of time how long it will take me and thus for how long to reserve a car. It forces me to aggregate multiple errands into one trip to carefully choose my destination and to plot out routes.

Another unintended, but nevertheless much welcome, side-effect of this required planning is that, if my destination involves shopping, I am forced to be much more efficient in choosing whatever it is I’m buying. No more prolonged unnecessary deliberation about over trivial decisions is definitely a good thing (see my post on The Paradox of Choice for more on this).

In summary 

Try I-GO. Even if you have a car that you’re contemplating getting rid of, sign up for a trial (there are many plans which don’t require a financial commitment) and see if it’s right for you. It’s easy to use (as I hope I’ve shown), it’s affordable, and though it sounds kind of twisted, not driving very often actually makes it quite fun (especially if you’re driving a Prius). And if you’re on the fence, not sure if you can survive in the city without a car, then challenge yourself (I bet you can!).  You’ll be able to adapt — and with all the money saved, the extra miles walked, and the carbon emissions spared, you will be glad you did.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Design, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.