very cool... kind of a twist on the "pick up a hitchhiker in the Bay Area in order to drive the commuter lanes" program...weelll... the program has another name but it escapes me now but i think you might have a good idea about what im refering to.

Ya know, when you get to thinking about Prius by the hour, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Seems like it would take way more than an hour or two to start to get the hang of it. Pretty expensive and sophisticated car to have many, not so caring, drivers using it.

(I didn't acutallly read the article since I didnt want to register so I might be missing something)

GreenMachine - Please note I added PriusChat's generic login, so you could try that if you wanted to read the article. Can't remember if it's there or in the Angies List article that states you have a 1 hour orientation with the car. I agree there could be a bit of a rental car attitude but I think it's more likely that it will be a "co-op" sort of attitude, with people taking some ownership in it. I applaud the innovation.

Sounds like one of those neat, well-intentioned Minnesota ideas (and I respect Minneapolis, in particular, as a bastion of Midwestern liberalism) that could be nightmarish to administer.

* some user's late returning the Hourcar---the next user's waiting at the appointed place---all other cars either reserved or too far away---might the current user have gotten confused and left it at another location?---what, they have no cell phone?

* "what, you spilled most of your cappucino on the driver's seat on your way to return the car, and don't have time or the means to clean it up?"

* "you say you can't drive it because someone smoked in it, and you're allergic? and there's chewing gum stuck in the little compartment?"

* "your Rottweiler did WHAT?"

* "you say you didn't need it after all, but a friend did, and you gave her the key, and it turns out the friend doesn't have her license yet and, in fact, wanted to use our car to practice left turns in rush-hour traffic, and...?"

* "you started it up after pressing all those buttons, and now there's a picture of a TRIANGLE on the dash, and exclamation points everywhere?"

Jack, your problems are the same as normal rental company problems, they still have to check car after each rental and wash it.

Nothing that has not been done before...

Most car rentals are not done for one and two-hour blocks, and I think multiplying the administration of these things, if a car were to have, say, 3-4 different users in a day, could be problematic.

Then again, I'm always happy to be proven wrong in the service of a good idea. B)

Great to hear!
This sounds very similar to many other car sharing program, lots of whom use the Prius for it's cost effectiveness.

http://www.phillycarshare.org/html/corporate_memberships.htm
http://www.zipcar.com/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=c...are&btnG=Search

Flexcar is in operation all over selected major population centers around the U.S. I know the Puget Sound area, specifically Seattle has Flexcar operations. I think they have been farily successful.

http://www.flexcar.com/

Wow - had no idea there were that many other companies out there in major markets. Thanks for the links to flexcar, zipcar etal. I really think it's another wave of the future... despite the valid points that Jack made.

well gee... aint nothing gonna cure lazy, irresponsible slobs. i would have to think that that may not be the case in this. obviously with no cooperation or consideration for others, it will flop.

I have not used Flexcar myself because I do not live in the Puget Sound region (Thank God! If you are thinking of moving there, don't. There's too many people already.). But they track vehicle usage very carefully. I've read their web site, it seems pretty simple, if you take the car out and need to fill it with gas, there is a fleet fuel card in the car for doing that. If the car needs to be cleaned you can also use a service they have contracted with to get that taken care of. You have to log the car in and out of use and you have to reserve it, but you don't have to reserve it in advance. You can literally reserve an unused car on the phone standing right next to it. Once your reservation is confirmed you can use your pass get in and drive. Rather than drone on and on, my impression of their control and access procedures is pretty impressive. They had to in order to actually have a system that works and a businss model that is sustainable.

Anyway, yes people can crap up cars, however the Flexcar also wants drivers to report when a vehicle looks like it has been abused and as such has some ability to trace abusive drivers to potentially fine them.

As for hybrids in their fleet. I've noticed on their web site a lot of Civic Hybrids, but I don't believe they have too many Prii. The Prii may not lend itself to the electronic ignition control they graft onto the cars to allow only the schedueled user access to the vehicle.