Do you really need your own car? an increasing number of people in the Twin Cities are figuring out that they don't. Many of them have signed up for HOURCAR, the car sharing program run by the Neighborhood Energy Connection. Since its creation in 2005, the program has grown from 150 members and about a dozen cars to 1,550 and 29 cars, with another three to be added to the fleet this fall.


It's based on a counter-intuitive strategy. If you provide people cars when they really, really need them they won't drive as much. In addition to daily rates and an annual membership, this one also charges a mileage fee to discourage use. Hmmm.

"Our mission is encourage people to drive less," said Christopher Bineham, HOURCAR program manager. "We are
committed to promoting walking, biking and transit, and promoting urban design that invests in that. Car sharing is a tool that makes those things possible."

Bineham says for most members, it's cheaper than owning a car. On top of that, they have the greenest of greenest automobiles, made up entirely of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) and partial zero emission vehicles (PZEVs), most of which are hybrids, with a couple of solar-powered plug-in hybrids to boot. (A solar powered plug-in hybrid?)

HOURCAR is one of two such programs in the Twin Cities. The other, ZipCar, as a national for profit company that has a program at the University of Minnesota. HOURCAR, in contrast, is non-profit, and has cars scattered from south Minneapolis to St. Paul.

It's a pretty slick system. You have to join -- that means you have to be at least 18 with a relatively clean driving record, and pay $50. After that it costs $6 or $8 an hour of driving, depending on the level of membership you choose, plus 25 cents per mile. But the first 100 are free. Rates drop by half between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Then you reserve your car on line, and when you need it, you go to its conveniently located parking spot, open it with your "fob" and drive away.

They also have a truck, for those trips to the lumber yard.

Bineham said HOURCAR is now breaking even. It could grow faster, he said, but they don't want to take on debt to grow the fleet.

"We are committed to being environmentally and financially sustainable," he said. "It's Important that we grow at slow and steady pace."

Unless, of course, gas prices hit $4 a gallon. Then they grow a lot faster, he said.