Baby You Can Drive My Car!

I have very exciting news! This doesn’t really effect most of you, but I am super excited about it!

Adam and I have two vehicles. One is our super-fun-to-drive modern car, and the other is our super-fun-to-drive old car that is more than twice my age. The old car is really only super fun to drive in the summer time when you can roll the windows down and wave to people as you pass by in a super sweet old car. In the winter, this super sweet old car’s heater is less than stellar, so we usually just cover it and don’t drive it.

As I mentioned here, I’ve been taking trax to get around town recently while Adam drives our modern car. Trax is great for getting from point A to point B, but what about going to the grocery store, or driving to get something for lunch?

*Fanfare!* Here’s where the fantastic news comes in. =)

Salt Lake City (and the surrounding areas) now has a Car Share program. You can read the article about it in the Salt Lake Tribune here. Here’s how it works (list time!):

1. There are 28 cars (and trucks, and suv’s etc…) parked in designated parking spots around salt lake, and near trax stations elsewhere.
2. To participate in the Car Share you sign up online (www.ucarshare.com) and pay a $25 enrollment fee. They send you your key card which unlocks endless possibilities… =)
3. When you want to use one of the cars, you go online (www.ucarshare.com), find one near you (again, the parking spots are designated, so there will always be a car there unless someone is using it) and reserve it for the time you need it. Then you go to the car, swipe your keycard in front of a box on the dashboard, and the doors unlock. The keys are inside the vehicle.
4. After you’ve paid the one time $25 enrollment fee, the cars are $4.95 an hour plus at least $.49 cents per mile. But you will never be charged more than $10 an hour. Larger vehicles are more per hour, and the cost per mile goes up a bit. You don’t pay for gas, maintenance, insurance, or the like.

The Car Share is fantastic news for me because there is a car parked right outside my office building, and cars parked a block away from us at the U. So those times when Adam is gone and I want to go to the grocery store real quick, -BAM- I can get in a car an go. Or if I find a really sweet piece of furniture that won’t fit in our little car –WHAM- reserve a truck and go. Or if I need to run a quick errand from work –WHOOSH- it’s done.

Over the summer, I was thinking of selling our old car (still thinking about it, just not doing…), but that was my only mode of transportation. I thought I could do my commute on my bike without any problem, but I didn’t know how I would grocery shop without a huge headache. Now it will really work, and I am absolutely sure that Adam and I can be a one car family.