Special Series
The Year of Living Car-lessly Experiment
In a Series
Pimp Your Ride
Each time I walk to a Flexcar in my neighborhood, I pass scores of parked private cars. I sometimes fantasize about strolling up to one of them, swiping my Flexcard over the dash, and driving away. I’d be debited automatically; my neighbor would be credited, less a slice for Flexcar. And I’d have a vastly larger pool of vehicles at my disposal.
This fantasy is less fantastical than it may seem.
Advances in information technology and the growth of car-sharing could converge with trends such as high fuel prices, urban densification, and caps on carbon emissions to create a thriving market for private cars’ idle hours—for people to pimp their rides.
The benefits for consumers and society would be colossal, and the obstacles to such a market emerging do not seem insurmountable. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
