Why don’t we have one-way ZipCars?
May 2nd, 2008Since the start of ZipCar, I have been wondering why one-way zipcars don’t exist - and by that I mean picking up a car in one location and dropping it off in another. I fully realize the logistical challenge and associated cost but the upside seems so great that it kept baffling me that they don’t try it.
I even asked ZipCar’s member services and got this for an answer:
“Unfortunately there is no plans to implement something like this any time soon, but we do realize there is a demand for it and it is one of the most popular suggestions we receive. It would be an extremely difficult system to set up but anything is possible in the future.”
So if I rephrase: there is a demand for it but it’s too hard to do… I don’t buy it.
Then, the other night I went to Pecha Kucha where Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of ZipCar was speaking. This is where I understood why they are not doing this: philosophically, the one-way ZipCar doesn’t match the company’s values.
ZipCar is about on-demand transportation. In other words, why own a car if you can always have one when you need it? From that perspective, the one-way ZipCar is a very bad idea because it competes with public transportation and cabs more than someone driving their own car. Thus, it doesn’t contribute to reducing the number of cars per person. This is where the glitch is in this idea.
Giving up your own car is a pretty big deal for most people and one of the main reasons why services like ZipCar don’t scale very fast. So, what if your first contact with ZipCar is simply a convenient ride somewhere (e.g. to the airport) and doesn’t require you kissing goobye to your beloved vehicle. Wouldn’t you be tempted to sign up then?
Once car owners see value in being part of the service, the pitch becomes much easier to new members and so does selling people on giving up their vehicle once they have had first hand experience with the service.
A lower tech example of this is already taking place in Paris with a city project called Velib’.
So I stick to my idea that one-way ZipCars would be a great initiative for on-demand car services like ZipCar to scale and reach a much wider user base.