As a long time user of Philly Car Share and an employee of a fellow non-profit I was not that surprised at the new billing plan. I was also not that surprised at how the blogging public seemed to be handling it. I was, however, ashamed.
Do I think the announcement was handled poorly? Yes. Do I think there should be more transparency in a company that markets itself as a public service? Yes. Do I believe I have better ideas about how the company should be run--of course. We all do, but we also don't have all the facts. I think there are a few things people are forgetting.
First, to those of you complaining about how you only use it once a year--Philly Car Share is still paying to insure you those other 364 days. That is expensive. Philly Car Share is now much more expensive than taking a cab or renting a car every so often, but it is a hell of a lot
cheaper than owning, maintaining, insuring and gassing up your very own car.
Secondly, when you're running a
business--even a non-profit one--there is a need for a regular
stream of income. When the
economy, sucks grants dry up and the money needs to come from somewhere. You know how when you just buy a plain old bagel it costs 50 cents, but when you get it with cream cheese it's $1.75. You're not paying $1.25 for that lousy swab of cream cheese. You're paying for that employee to stand their and wait for that electricity sucking toaster, pull it from the tray, slap the cream cheese on, wrap it up and hand it to you. Likewise with Car Sharing--you're paying for someone to clean up the car after your kid smashes Cheerios all over the back seat, to talk to you for 15 minutes when you can't
figure out how to start a
Prius and to keep the electricity on in the building so they can turn on their computers to make the whole system run. And by the way, Zip Car is not the answer. The only reason they are cheap now is because they are crazy expensive in other cities. Once healthy competition is run out of town they will double in price. Ask your friends in New York how much they pay for a car. They don't know any better, but you'll be shocked!
Finally, the people who pick up the phone at Philly Car Share are people. They are your neighbors, they are your friends, they are your fellow
Philadelphians and most importantly, the are most
definitely not the people who made the decision to start charging you. Maybe the new charge isn't an economically good decision for you. Fine. Just cancel. Don't scream at the person on the other line. They aren't ruining your life, they're just forcing you to take a cab every so often. If you're that reliant on a service that a few years ago didn't even exist maybe you should just pony up the $15. I can't make that decision for you. I wish I had a few more days to make that decision for myself. I'm sure they will loose a lot of members. I'm sure many of those members will come back. All I'm asking is that you remember the last time your boss threw you under the bus and you had to take all the heat for it. It sucks. Practice a little decency and class up, people.
