reCars--Car Pooling Utilities

Description

A model for a new private utility vehicle company that owns and operates carports throughout the city (airports, carports encourage mobility, unlike car parks), equipped with small, efficient & environmentally friendly cars, called reCARs. CHALLENGE A typical office worker drives into the city in the morning and leaves the city for home around sundown. Even in the most traditional work cycle that’s an 8 hour stretch of her car sitting idle waiting for the return trip. Chances are it’s a single occupancy vehicle. Multiply that by every office worker in the city and you have the single largest collection of idle metal concentrated in massive concrete structures called parking spaces. This creates massive dead spaces within cities. Further, due to the cost of parking, people are discouraged from traveling within the city during leisure hours (ie lunch) for fear of having to pay additional parking charges at every stop they make. The purpose of the car in this typical model is merely to ferry an individual to a single point and to obediently await its masters return. This is an extremely inefficient use of transportation. How can we provide an efficient model to transport people from residential areas into the city without 1) sacrificing their mobility within the city and 2) sacrificing public spaces in favour of car parks. SOLUTION A new private utility vehicle company owns and operates carports throughout the city (like airports, carports encourage mobility, unlike car parks), equipped with small, efficient & environmentally friendly cars, called reCARs. Commuters use public transportation to get to work, either via trains, bus etc. They are then able to hire a reCAR at various points throughout the city for intra city commute, leaving their reCARs at the carport closest to their destination. These cars will run on natural gas and since it is for short commutes within the city, the usual disadvantages of sacrificing boot space for fuel storage does not apply. reCARS are also exempt from parking fess for short term road side parking, thereby encouraging mobility and interaction within the city. For example, one is able to hire a reCAR to get to a lunch appointment and make a quick stop at the post office on the way back to work without having to pay additional parking charges at each stop. The result of the solution is threefold: 1) open up spaces by reducing the number of car parks in the inner city; 2) reduce the number of vehicles commuting into and out of the city (which is the prime reason for traffic jams) and 3) reducing dependency on private vehicle ownership and its positive implications for the environment. ECONOMIC IMPACT 1. Increases ridership on public transport system and therefore revenues for public transportation authorities to invest back into public services. 2. Encourages greater mobility within the city and therefore economic gains for shopfronts by putting in place incentives like free roadside parking for reCARS. 3. Consumer savings by not having to drive into the city everyday, avoiding daily parking charges and overall petrol costs associated with daily driving. COMMUNITY IMPACT 1. Reducing travel times into and out of the city by reducing the number of cars on the roads during peak hours. 2. Improves quality of life by reducing significant time wasted waiting in traffic and therefore increasing productivity. 3. Typically, most people remained confined within their block due to the challenges of venturing out further. Communities are locked in one place for the whole day. This system encourages intracity connectivity.