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You Don't Need to Own a Car (If You Don't Drive to Work) - YouTube
Channel: Not Just Bikes
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for about the last 20 years my wife and
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i have had a pretty simple rule
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if we don't need to drive to work we
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don't need to own a car
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this was pretty easy when we lived in
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central london because the public
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transit system was so exceptional
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but in other cities like toronto public
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transit and cycling could only take us
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so far
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because the few walkable parts of
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toronto are surrounded by a sprawling
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suburban wasteland that is only
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accessible by car
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and of course we also needed a car
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because intercity passenger trains suck
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so much in canada
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so in a city that's designed incorrectly
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a car will sometimes be necessary and
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for that we would rely on car sharing
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in my experience people don't understand
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just how easy car share programs have
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become
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you literally open the app choose a car
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and you can be driving in less than five
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minutes
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it's so easy it's ridiculous but i'll
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talk about that in more detail
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later in this video when talking about
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car share
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most people seem to think it's like a
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rental car and they associate it with
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the horrible experience of renting a car
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while on vacation
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and let's face it renting a car sucks
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you have to book it in advance you
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usually have to physically go to the
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rental car agency
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and when you get there you'll end up
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waiting in line just so you can go talk
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to some person who will type in all of
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your information into a computer
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even though you already did it online
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and then
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they'll tell you they don't actually
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have the car you reserved but they'll
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provide you with a
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free upgrade to a crappy suv that
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consumes twice as much gas
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so when people think about not owning a
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car they usually think about this rental
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car process and how painful it is
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but that's not the way modern car share
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works
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car sharing has been around for a long
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time possibly as far back as the 1940s
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there was even an all-electric car
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sharing service called vitkar
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that was launched in amsterdam in 1974.
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talk about being ahead of their time
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we signed up for our first car share
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service in 2003 when
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we joined auto share in toronto back
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then the service was really basic
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we were given a key to a lock box that
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contained the keys to a car and we
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booked our time slots using a 1990s
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style website
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keeping track of mileage and fuel was
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entirely paper-based but the concept
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worked well enough
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these days however all car share systems
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are app-based and you can do everything
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from booking a car
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to unlocking the doors all from your
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smartphone
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today there are many different car share
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programs available but generally they
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can be classified into two groups
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what i'm calling fixed and free floating
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they both have their own advantages and
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disadvantages so we maintain memberships
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with several different services
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the oldest type of car sharing program
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is the fixed kind and our service in
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toronto is like this
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this is where cars are parked throughout
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the city in fixed locations
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with this kind of design you start to
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get used to where cars are in your
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neighborhood and what kind of cars are
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available
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after a while we started to settle into
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using our favorite cars and admittedly
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it was nice to get a familiar car that
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always remembered our bluetooth
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connections
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in a fixed car share system you
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typically need to book your time slot in
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advance and you have to return it back
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to the place where you picked it up
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this makes it difficult to use a car
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spontaneously but it has the benefit of
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ensuring that your car is always there
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when you've booked it so in this sense
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they're like traditional rental cars but
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with many more locations and you never
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need to wait in line or speak to an
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employee to get your car
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a big benefit of fixed car share is that
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they typically have lots of different
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kinds of cars and vans
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so you can take whichever vehicle you
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need for the trip you're taking
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when people used to ask us what kind of
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car we owned we used to joke that we had
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a fleet of them
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and this is ridiculously useful
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if i was just driving somewhere by
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myself or with a few other people i
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would get a small fuel-efficient car
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that's cheap and easy to drive
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but if i had to go buy a sheet of
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plywood or move a bunch of large items i
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could get a cargo van like this one
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that fits everything perfectly it always
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made me laugh while
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easily loading my car share cargo van
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outside of the hardware store and seeing
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other people in the parking lot trying
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to squeeze a bunch of oversized stuff
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into their crappy suv that holds way
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less than they think it does
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so here they are driving around in this
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bloated piece of garbage vehicle for
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every trip everywhere they go and the
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one time they actually need it
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it's not big enough car share solves
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that problem
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so even when we owned our own cars we
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still kept our car share service active
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to maintain access to the fleet of cars
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and fans when we needed them
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so car share doesn't just let people go
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car free it also lets two car households
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become single car households and it
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makes it easier for people to buy
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smaller cheaper vehicles too
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the other type of car share service is
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what i call the free floating kind and
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it seems to be the way that most new
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app-based car share services work
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free-floating car share means that cars
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can be parked almost anywhere
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you don't need to book them in advance
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and you can return them wherever it's
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convenient
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these systems are ideal for spontaneous
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trips and they allow you to take one-way
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trips as well
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instead of being like a rental car
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they're more like a taxi that you drive
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yourself
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except way cheaper for example a few
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months ago i took a one-way trip with my
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kids within the city and the bill came
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out to 2 euros and 10 cents yeah
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i had to drive myself but i've never
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paid that little for a taxi
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in a developed nation now of course
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not all trips are necessarily that short
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and cheap but from our car share
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experience we found it best not to think
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too much about the
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individual cost of a trip rather just
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think about the monthly cost
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compared to owning your own car sure it
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might have cost us say
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15 to go to the big grocery store in the
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suburbs which is a lot for a single trip
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but when we get the bill at the end of
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the month we'd usually find that all of
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our trips combined added up to less than
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100 bucks
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and that includes everything the car the
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fuel
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the insurance the cleaning the
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maintenance even the windshield wiper
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fluid
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so we had access to a car whenever we
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needed it but it cost us less than just
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the insurance did
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when we used to have our own vehicle
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and yeah owning your own car can be a
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great convenience but it can also be a
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massive hassle too when i've owned cars
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there were several times where i had
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problems with them and it was my job to
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get them fixed
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for example the time my car's computer
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malfunctioned and all my plans were
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ruined while i spent the day waiting for
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a tow truck
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and for the mechanic to fix it and i was
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at about 600 bucks by the end of the day
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as well
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car share cars are reliable and they're
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well maintained
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because it's in the company's best
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interest to keep them in service
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in 18 years and hundreds of car share
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rides i've only had a problem once
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and when that happened i called their
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hotline they booked me another car
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nearby and i just
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left the broken car at the side of the
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road for them to deal with
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they even gave me a discount on my
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rental for the trouble that's great
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it's also nice not to have to worry
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about getting my car damaged or having
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to deal with insurance
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or having my car broken into which has
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happened to me
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car sharing gives you access to a car
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but it removes all of the stress
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hassle and expense of owning your own
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vehicle
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every car share system we've used has
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per minute rates
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but they sometimes have discounts for
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longer trips weekends
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and multi-day trips as well for example
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it's common to have a maximum rate of
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say
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five to eight hours per day and after
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that you pay the 24 hour rate
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so if we were planning a road trip we'd
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usually pick up the car the night before
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and park it right in front of our house
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so it was ready to go the next morning
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at no extra cost
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for example one of the times we lived in
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toronto our family used to drive to go
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skiing every sunday in the winter
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the daily rate at the time was 85 so our
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car cost for those winter months was 340
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dollars for four days of skiing
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but of course other months of the year
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we might not use it at all so then we'd
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pay nothing
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the average car spends 96 of its time
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parked
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but you're still paying for it to sit
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there i like the idea that when i'm not
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using the car
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i'm not paying for it and i'm not
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worrying about it either
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that's a level of freedom you just don't
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get with car ownership
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you really have to be using a car more
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than every single weekend
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every week of the year before car share
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comes anywhere close to the cost of
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owning your own vehicle
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which is why we had our policy if we
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didn't need to drive to work
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we didn't need to own a car even when we
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had two kids
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and we saved a hell of a lot of money
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doing so
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here in amsterdam we have a lot of
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different car share services available
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to us
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all of this choice has given us the
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luxury of being able to only use car
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share programs that have electric
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vehicles
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because i generally think it's impolite
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to give little kids asthma when i'm
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going somewhere
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the way these systems work is pretty
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similar and they're generally the same
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in other cities as well
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so here's what a typical trip looks like
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on a modern free-floating car share
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service
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first you open the app and you're
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presented with a map of cars nearby
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there are usually several cars within a
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short walk but there have been a few
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busy times that i've had to take a quick
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bike ride out to pick up my preferred
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car
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some services only use one or two models
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of car especially those that are owned
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by a specific car
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company other services have several
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different makes and models and i've
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enjoyed trying out every type of car
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available
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i can confidently say that the nissan
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leaf is my favorite electric car
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you select the car you want in the app
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and it's reserved for 15 minutes giving
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you enough time to get to the car
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when you get to your car you take a
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quick look around and check for any
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damage
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new damage can be reported in the app
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you can also use the app to let them
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know if the car
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is dirty in my experience car share cars
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are almost always clean
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because people don't want to get charged
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for leaving it dirty and the car share
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company professionally cleans their cars
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on a regular basis
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you unlock the doors from the app
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depending on the model of car you may
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need to get the keys out of the glove
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box but for most electric cars you never
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need the keys because the app has
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already unlocked it you just need to
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press the start button
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then you adjust the seat and mirrors
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turn off whatever terrible radio station
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the person before you is listening to
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and that's it the whole process takes no
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more than a minute or two and you're
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ready to drive
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you can take the car for as long as you
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want and you can park it as necessary
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the car share company will provide a
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fuel card or fob to pay for any fuel or
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electricity that you use
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here in the netherlands there are public
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car charging stations almost everywhere
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and they work just by tapping a fob to
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the charger
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driving an electric car in the
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netherlands is great but i'll talk about
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that in more detail
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in a future video we've often had car
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chargers at our campgrounds or hotels
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and as long as we've used the fob the
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electricity is included in the cost of
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the car share which is nice
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the car share service gives you a credit
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if you return the car with more fuel or
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battery than when you picked it up so i
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usually plug it in near my destination
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when i return it
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having a free-floating car share service
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available is really useful
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i can drive out to the pub and then take
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a taxi or public transit home after
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drinking
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i can walk or take public transit to a
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shop and then get a car to carry my
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heavy purchases home
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if i end up buying something as you can
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tell
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i'm a really big fan of car share
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services and they've only become better
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over the years
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they allow us to live in a walkable
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urban environment and save a lot of
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money on transportation
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while still having access to a car or
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cargo van when we need it
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i don't ever plan on owning a car again
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because i find them more trouble than
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they're worth
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and here in amsterdam a properly
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designed city a car is rarely the best
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way to get around
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plus nearly the whole country is
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accessible with a combination of bicycle
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plus train
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but it's nice to know in those rare
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times when i do need one or want to
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drive one
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i still have a car available in fact i
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have a whole fleet of them
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i'd like to thank my supporters on
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patreon who pay me to drive through
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amsterdam get out of my way you bloody
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cyclists
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if you'd like to support the channel and
[746]
get access to bonus videos visit
[748]
patreon.com
[749]
not just bikes
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