Comments Steve Gutmann has made

  • A similar article, with a hopeful ending

    Harper's just published an article called "The Cuban Diet" that lays out how Cuban society changed over the past couple of decades, since the collapse of the Soviet Union shut them out of the global economy, and Cubans had to shift to an economy not unlike that which Kunstler describes.

    The transition sounds like it was difficult, but what emerged at the other end sounds, at least in some ways, not so bad.On An interview with doomsaying author James Howard Kunstler posted 4 years, 6 months ago 25 Responses

  • Carsharing with Kids

    Dave-

    It's difficult to make carsharing work with kids, but it's not impossible.  Flexcar has quite a few members with one or more children, myself included.  Most of them use Flexcar as their second car (vs. their only car) but some DO live "car free."  

    The key to making it work is simple: location, location, location!  I'll describe my family's setup because it's what I know best, and is probably pretty typical:

    • the 3.5 of us (including a 2 year-old and a bun in the oven) live in a dense, mixed-use neighborhood with great transit service and several carsharing locations nearby.
    • my wife and I both commute by transit or bike every day
    • we found childcare within walking/biking distance of our home

    Our daily routine (including daycare dropoff & pickup) does not involve a car.  When we do need a car (e.g. to visit friends or grandparents in the suburbs), one of us gets a Flexcar, picks up the other two at home, and off we go.  At the end of the outing, two of us get dropped back off at home, and the other returns the Flexcar.  We often combine these outings with errands and use the car for a full day.  (There are daily, as well as hourly, carsharing rates.)

    All of this may sound difficult to someone who drives their kids all over the place, but it's actually pretty wonderful.  Our lives seem to have a more sane pace than most other families we know.  I'm sure we don't pack as much into every day as some families, but that's ok with us.  

    Also, we figure we're saving $400-$600/month, so we can afford to take pretty nice family vacations.  
    On Umbra on renting hybrids and sharing cars posted 4 years, 9 months ago 9 Responses

  • Car sharing in TIME Magazine this week.

    First: full disclosure. I work for Flexcar (www.flexcar.com), one of the leading car sharing companies in the US.

    Anyone interested in carsharing should check out last week's TIME Magazine.  There's a 4-page story with information about how it works and why it can dramatically improve the urban landscape (example: each carshare vehicle put into service replaces 6-11 private cars).  The article also profiles several people and companies that use Flexcar to avoid the costs (typically $703/month, plus parking, according to AAA) of owning a personal car.

    My wife and I have been using carsharing services (and haven't owned a car) for the past 6 years.  The key to making a "car free" lifestyle work is carefully choosing where you live.  Carsharing (vs. owning a car) works well if you live in a neighborhood where:

    • you can walk to many basic services (e.g. a grocery store)
    • you can ride transit or a bike to work (Flexcar doesn't work for commuting)
    • there are carsharing vehicles nearby

    In other words, choose a relatively dense, mixed-use neighborhood.

    Interestingly, many of Flexcar's members DO have a car.  They join anyway, in order to have convenient, automated, hourly access to a decentralized fleet of cars, pickup trucks (who doesn't need a pickup once in a while?) and minivans.
    On Umbra on renting hybrids and sharing cars posted 4 years, 9 months ago 9 Responses