Signed up for City Car Share. Yes, I have a car, but sometimes I need a car for longer distances or sometimes my car is in the shop or sometimes I just want to drive a cute little green VW bug. A friend of mine who is carless signed up too.

They have 85 cars parked throughout Berkeley, Oakland, SF, Palo Alto and soon to be Mountain View. The cars are for folks who don't really need to drive that often, but need a car maybe for a trip or just to run errands. With a $300 deposit and $10 per month per household/individual, plus rental time ($3.50/hr + .37/mile), they pay for registration, insurance, cleaning, and GAS! Believe that, they pay for gas!

Another nice perk is that they have designated car spaces, so in these really congested areas where they are housed, there's always a place to park when you return them. And the staff is always on call to help you out in emergencies.

Car sharing became really popular in Germany and Switzerland in the 1980s. It's just gaining ground here with Car Share orgs in various major cities.

In their newsletter, they're also looking for carshare inspired haikus.

Here's one from their newsletter:

Find the misty pod;
After a day's lonely search,
new green bugs appear.
-Jerry Travis

See there is poetry everywhere.