Core77

Erica Barnett over at WorldChanging has posted a disappointed yet hopeful breakdown of the happenings since Zipcar's Flexcar acquisition. Fair prices, a little leeway, and actually getting to talk to a real live person for customer service were well-loved perks at the former Flexcar, but are the same major elements missed at today's Zipcar. Overall, there is no doubt that carsharing is an excellent solution for sustainable mobility, however, Barnett fears "Zipcar is more concerned with its own bottom line than its environmental mission."

Here at Worldchanging, we recognize the almost revolutionary potential of product-service systems. Because it's one of the best demonstrations of that potential, we've been vocal supporters of carsharing, and we want to see it work.

But in order for it to work, the companies who bring us shared products need to recognize that they are more intimately connected to our lives than other companies tend to be -- that when they're working, they become more than mere companies, they become communities... and they need to hold themselves to a higher standard.