Buying domestic car does not cost much but as you may know, it is only a fraction of the cost of ownership. What hurts particularly is that there is very little parking space and, if you are renting, you have to pay an ungodly amount of money to park you car. Given the fact that I drive only for getaways, to irregular shopping spree or family-related medical appointments, and mass transportation runs on time here, I don't really need a car.
Don't get me wrong, I love driving and powerful, beautiful cars. And don't get me started on automatic gearboxes! It just does not make any economic sense.
Car sharing
Talking with a colleague who is a frequent user, I decided to try out car sharing. Basically it is like renting a car, except that you pay a monthly fee and get to chose what to drive for an all-inclusive price. And as your information is already in the system, it is pretty convenient.
Many services are available in Tokyo and after a bit of research I chose "Times Plus" (details on the car sharing market in this recent article of the Japan Times). They have several stations around where I live and a good choice of cars.
The monthly fee is cheap (1,000 yen/ a bit less than US$10 that are given as a discount on your usage during the month) and there are packages and pays-as-you-go options. Registering took a few minutes online and all I needed is a scan of my driver's license and a credit card. Few days later I got my member's card and I was ready to go.
To select a car I just access the website (or use an app) from whatever machine I use and I can see which cars (small, vans, sports, hybrid, etc) are available where during the time I am interested and book them. What is really fun for a techie is how you get in the car. Your member's card has an embedded RFID chip that opens the car when you swipe it on the windshield!
and the car are easy to find in the parking lot thanks to those plastic banners in front of them
Experience
Then the actual car keys are in the glove box. So easy. Did I mention I could set up the GPS at the time of the booking so that the car is all ready for me when I get in? And the same GPS knows when the car is back at its spot, their big computer knows when the keys are back in the glove box and my card swiped to lock everything. And then I receive an email to confirm I gave the car back.
And the actual cost you may ask? For example a 30km round trip for running some errands taking 3 and half hours, costs a bit less than $30. Not bad, knowing we were 3 in the car.
And by the way, if you take some of your time to fill the tank (more than 20 liters) or get the car washed at one of their partner gas stations (using the loyalty cards available in the car) you receive discounts. How do they know that? Well sensors in the tank and the use of the loyalty card linked to their database. Spooky may be but the incentive is good (15-minute discount for each) and it makes sense for the company as users are helping doing the basic maintenance, lowering the overall cost of the service.
So...
I am really enjoying the service. The cars are new and well taken care of, the customer service responsive and the whole experience is smooth.
On one hand, where I went, from where, for how long, the type of cars I use is logged in their database. By cross referencing with my credit card company or my online social activities they would be able to have pretty good image of my habits. This could be a problem if it got stalked by someone who was after me and able to get to the data. It could always happen but the probability is pretty small (except if I become a very well known and important person but that's another story!).
On the other hand, all these technologies coupled together are offering me a good experience, a useful service at a reasonable price solving a logistical and economical problem I am facing as an urban dweller. And imagine the type of personalized offers they could provide me with if they were smart...
All in all, these new technologies used in a smart way are a boon for us, offering more convenience and lowering costs. Of course we are handing over some information, voluntarily, but the pay off is obvious. As I was mentioning in the previous post, we should remain vigilant of the laws of the land and the T&Cs of the companies to make sure we remain protected and our privacy respected to continue enjoying the benefits of technology. Which brings me to the "Reform Government Initiative" by some tech giants to get governments (especially the US one) to be more transparent, and that is great.
Let's continue enjoy technology but be informed and active citizens!
