Car Sharing with WeCar

Did you miss me? Sorry for the ten day (or so) hiatus. Work has been very busy, in a good way. Perhaps an excuse, but also a fact.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to do a test run of a new car sharing program that launched in St. Louis about a week ago. Car sharing? In St. Louis? That’s right mothertrucker! The program, called WeCar, is run by St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the largest car rental company in the world . . . yeah, that one. Anywho, to promote the new program, which has two hubs (one downtown and one on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis), Enterprise contacted a local news station to do a feature. They called a bunch of people who had signed up to see if they could participate in the story and eventually got to me. That I was available was pure coincidence, but I thought if I could help promote the program I should.

I was told that the station would just like to ask me a few questions on camera while standing by one of the ten (or nine) cars parked around downtown (the City of St. Louis donated ten metered parking spots to the cause . . . how sweet!). Since it was a balmy seven degrees outside, that turned into a short interview while driving a Prius around downtown. I was dressed in a black coat, black gloves and black hat. I think my mom would be proud I looked like an assassin on film. Hopefully they don’t air the clip of me not knowing how to work a Prius on television. Seriously, it’s like turning on your stereo. I’m totally buying one. Orrrrrrrrr, I could just rent one. Booya!

The entire WeCar system is pretty sophisticated behind the scenes. The user interface, on the other hand, is relatively simple. You need to sign up for the program by filling out a few forms. If approved, you get a welcome kit with a key fob. The fob is used to unlock the doors. Once inside, you put your pin into a little key pad that releases the key and logs that you’ve started using the car. When done, you tell the pad you are finished and go on your merry way. The cars continually talk to Enterprise’s computer system, so the car knows to be expecting you. This means you can’t just walk up to any of the cars and hop in without making a prior reservation. You get charged by the hour during the day and pay a flat fee for overnight rentals. There are plenty more details I won’t bore you with here but can check out the site here.

I hope to use the service often, and I’m guessing my monthly cost will be less than paying for parking on another car, let alone the payments, insurance and fuel. If you’re in St. Louis, sign up. If you’re somewhere else that’s dense enough, contact Enterprise to get a similar service started.