Originally Posted by
pedex
Group insurance rates are higher, maintenance is higher, life expectancy of vehicle lower, and finally for the umpteenth time on demand car leasing has been around for quite awhile. What you are proposing changes very little and adds significant amounts of complexity.
I'd like to see it done in practice for a while, and then look at what the vehicle-to-user ratios are as a result. They may burn through vehicles quicker as a result of driving them more and leaving them parked less, but if it means less cars on the roads and parking lots overall, it would be a good thing. Also, if people learn to walk a little more and rely on rides a bit less, that would make the system more efficient in terms of users-per-vehicle-mile.
Overall in terms of cost, I think it works out to the benefit of everyone, because if the cars are driving more for more users, then each user is getting more value-per-dollar spent on vehicles and maintenance. Ultimately, it would be good to see larger vehicles like vans, which can carry more passengers than a car, serving more passengers at a time, to achieve even greater efficiency.
Furthermore if less traffic and cheaper transportation is the goal why bother with private privilege modes of transportation and just use public modes instead?
Because public transit systems are inadequate and underutilized in many areas. Car ownership and driving are dominant modes in such areas, and as a result sprawl and massive infrastructure maintenance costs have become the norm. People love to make money on all this car business and infrastructure contracts/jobs, but it's not good environmentally, and driving everywhere without being able to choose other modes isn't a healthy way of life. It puts everyone under pressure to drive and keep up with the rat race in order to keep up with higher cost of living due to all the economic expenses of the area. It's just not humane, either economically or in terms of geography and being able to get around with stuffing your body in a machine and not being able to walk or bike anywhere efficiently.
Such areas can't and won't change immediately from ride/car-sharing, but if traffic begin to consolidate at people share less vehicles among more people, land-development and infrastructure should gradually cater the new norms. You should see more bike/pedestrian paths replacing lanes in travel corridors. You should also see less parking lots, with more parks and outdoor rest/recreation areas instead. Overall, sprawling municipalities should become more human-oriented as a result of less vehicles on the roads.