![]() Devyn and I will be damned if I-GO expects us to plant our bearish butts into a boring old Honda Civic while paying a premium for the privelege. But if I’m going to be ferried about Chicagoland on special occasions in an automobile, I might as well do it (as might we all):įuel efficiency aside, there’s something to be said about choice: you really ought to offer one. I, as always, remain the ultimate car-sharer, unwavering in my lifelong intention never to learn how to drive, preferring to take transit or read the map for my significant other from the passenger seat. Now, obviously, I won’t be driving any of these automobiles. But according to the Zipcar website, that will change as the for-profit company continues an aggressive local expansion strategy. Right now, Zipcars are thinner on the ground than I-GO vehicles. Realizing that not all car trips are undertaken for the same reasons, Zipcar offers a variety of cars, from roomy, freight-hauling SUVs, to “coolness factor” cars like Minis and Mustangs, perfect for showing up in at that far-suburban high-school reunion. Moreover, Zipcar’s higher incremental costs are more than made up for in one, screaming factor: choice. Essentially, the I-GO pricing penalizes you for actually using the car, at least for anything more than short trips–the trips you could probably make more cheaply in a taxi, anyway. ![]() But Devyn and I were still left wondering why the free mileage offered by I-GO was so paltry compared to Zipcar. True, other rates are a bit higher, with a $50 annual fee and a $66 daily rate. And unless we brought the car back late, it would stay there. 30/mile, with 125 free miles), that Ikea trip of ours would begin at $54. But in my book, although I-GO’s cars are located all over the city, one choice is no choice at all. The Civic-heavy fleet was apparently chosen due to the mileage benefits of the car. In fact, except for a few exceptions, I-GO’s fleet is comprised almost exclusively of Honda Civics. However, if you’d prefer, you can also rent a…Honda Civic. Worse, your choice of car with I-GO is a Honda Civic. I-GO does offer frequent-driver plans, but those require membership fees of between $80 and a whopping $725. That’s on top of a $75 membership fee and $25 annual maintenance fee. 50/mile, with 25 free miles) would set us back at least $62. The supposedly more attractive Standard Plus plan ($8.25/hour +. The All Day plan with 200 free miles also would cost $60. Fifty miles round-trip from our downtown abodes, a trip to the Swedish wonderland and back, with side trips and lunch thrown in, generally requires a car for six to eight hours. Our only car trips tend to be medium-distance ones, out of the city, where transit fears to tread. When we actually compared I-GO to the new, for-profit national service, Zipcar, we were surprised to learn that the commercial service actually offered us a better deal. It seemed too good to be true.Īnd for us, it was. As with most car-sharing services, I-GO offers a flat membership fee, low hourly rates, and no hassles of additional insurance riders or filling up the gas tank on your own dime (insurance is included in membership fees and a company credit card is stowed in every car to pay for gas). Sponsored by the groovy, civic-minded, nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology, I-GO was the first car-sharing service to hit the streets of Hogtown. So we’d been toying with the idea of joining I-GO for awhile. Beyond Enterprise, those pickings are slim. ![]() ![]() But that gets expensive, and, especially downtown, you’re at the mercy of the hours and locations of the few car rental firms that are nearby and open on weekends. So every now and then, when the idea of Swedish furniture, or the Indiana Dunes, or the Milwaukee Art Museum rears its head, we’ve tended to rent a car. (Having commuted to scum–er–Schaumburg from the city before for work, I know how sucky that trip is). Such was the dilemma last week for Devyn, my annoyingly self-doubting, enormously gifted architectural photo-essayist boyfriend.ĭevyn had a long history of car trips before we hooked up last year, and though I’m a committed transit user, it’s not like I ever intend to visit, say, Ikea, on the RTA. Especially when you’re faced with a choice between local car-sharing services I-GO and Zipcar. Sometimes it’s hard to be a conservation-minded urbanist. ( Photo: Would you share this car? Credit: Zipcar.) ![]()
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