Owning a car in Hoboken can cause more headaches than it’s worth. There’s the parking crunch, the tickets, and the need for insurance – the most expensive auto insurance in the country.
Zipcar, a Boston-based car sharing firm, has a possible solution. The company offers its members 24-hour access to private vehicles parked throughout the city, for short-term use.
With the full support of Mayor David Roberts’ administration, Zipcar has come to Hoboken. The Mile-Square City is the first New Jersey municipality to test the service. The city has made provisions for a white Volkswagen Jetta named “Julian” to be parked on the corner of Washington and First streets, permanently.
As demand increases, more cars will be placed around the city in both on- and off-street parking locations.
Members of the Zipcar service have access to the car for as little as one hour or as long as several days at a time. Reservations can be made on-line or over the phone in a matter of seconds. Technology tracks all the information needed for billing so that members have no paperwork to fill out and no logs to keep.
The system also offers security in that only the member who has reserved a particular car can gain entry into it. Each member is given a security card and, after they reserve the car for a certain amount of time on a chosen date, they wave the card across an electric patch on the windshield. The car doors open.
Zipcar has market-tested the program in Boston and Washington, DC, amassing more than 2,000 active members and 100 cars. The company recently entered the New York market.
For $8 per hour and 40 cents per mile, Zipcar pays for an assigned parking space, maintenance, gas, and insurance. The maximum daily rate is $65. There is also a $30 monthly membership fee or a $75 fee for the entire year.
Robin Chase, the CEO of Zipcar, said at the Tuesday unveiling of the car that there are several types of people who would use it.
The first are professionals who use mass transit to go to their place of employment daily, but on certain occasions need to visit a client or make a site visit. Instead of having to maintain a company car full-time, the company is able to use the service to make the occasional trip.
The second type of person walks or takes mass transit to work and needs a car occasionally for personal uses, such as going to the store or a doctor’s appointment.
The third type is a family that needs an occasional second car. If one family member is at work and the other needs a car to take the kids to soccer practice, they can conveniently use the service.
Mayor Roberts said Tuesday that Hoboken is the perfect place for a car sharing program.
“We’re betting that there is a large enough car owner population in Hoboken that does not use a car every day and would actually benefit financially, as well as from the standpoint of convenience, by not owning a car,” Roberts said. “And by working with a private sector company, our whole community can benefit from their innovation and business acumen in dealing with parking issues while conserving resources. It’s a win-win situation.”
Roberts added that he supports any program or business that can potentially take cars off the street and alleviate the city’s parking problems.
According to Zipcar’s research, each shared car in an urban area takes between seven to 10 privately owned cars off the street. On average, one Zipcar services the needs of 20 people. Also according to member surveys, 15 percent of their members have given up the car they owned and 25 percent avoided purchasing a new car.
“We have been working to fix Hoboken’s parking problem in a responsible way,” said Roberts. “In addition to new parking spaces that are set to come on-line this year through the St. Mary garage and 916 Garden St., we have strengthened parking regulations to make them more favorable to Hoboken residents, and we are exploring how we can make better use of existing on-street parking by converting parallel parking to angled parking on some streets.”
While the program is starting out with one car parked near City Hall, they plan to put more Zipcars on Hoboken’s streets in the future.