Have you seen Car2go?

I'm seeing those cute little smart cars all over town...on the eastside, that is.  Car2go has made quite an entrance considering they just started here YESTERDAY!  While this looks like competition for zipcar, the business model is a bit different.  Car2go is a membership organization that charges based on usage and fees.  But...you pick up and leave cars where you like, within the service area (inner eastside and a bit of the westside).  No need to leave it in a designated spot or return it to where you found it.  Car2go's website says you simply leave it in a legal parking spot.

There is a $35 registration fee, and the basic cost is 35 cents a mile, with a maximum of $65.99 per day.  This fee includes gas, parking, gps, maintenance and cleaning.  The nice thing is no designated return times, you just get in and drive off.  This sounds great, until I've been planning on using car2go and can't find a car.  Not to worry, their mapping function shows where cars are currently located.   There is also a "stopover" function to prevent someone else from getting in and driving off if you are still using the car.

I think this is kind of cool, though I wonder how many different versions of car sharing Portland can support.  And I find it interesting that we now have at least two care sharing options and no major bike sharing options.  hmm.