Wheels To Go: CarShare vehicle at Westminster Choir College

Even if you live a mostly walkable life, walking to work, gathering groceries from local stores, socializing in local bars and restaurants…you will likely realize that some jobs just require a car. Especially here in Jersey, your options are greatly expanded if you have some wheels, whether it is to quickly visit some friends in Hopewell, head to the shore for the weekend, or head out to Walmart for some friendly prices!

Fortunately, in 2013, we have increasing options that help to bridge the gap between living completely car-free and the hassle and expense of owning a personal automobile (think gas prices, insurance, heavy traffic-and-the line at the DMV!) ‘Car-sharing’ is the growing trend where companies place vehicles in your neighborhood for use by many different renters. Forget about the lines and hassle of going to a car rental place on the edge of town- nowadays you can reserve a vehicle straight from your smartphone and unlock the car using a smart-card. In some cases you don’t have to reserve at all! If you see the car and want to drive it, you just swipe…and go!

Car-sharing is happening in Princeton- right here, right now! We’re preparing a full report on your local car-sharing options, but we were impressed to see a car-share vehicle parked at the Westminster Choir College just off of Chestnut Lane recently. This car belongs to the ‘WeCar‘ program. We give Rider University (and Princeton University too!!!) a big Thumbs-Up for supporting car-sharing, because it reduces the number of vehicles required on our road, reduces the space wasted on parked cars (most cars are driven for less than one hour per day) and gives people the choice to live a car-lite lifestyle. Do you have any experience of using WeCar? Let us know in the comments section!