CAR2GO or NOT GO 
Autor: Henrique Leandro | Publicado: 2013-11-12T19:17:00-08:00





As most of you probably know, Montreal has just received a new car sharing service named "Car2Go", which works very similar to our bixi system, and when I say very similar, I really mean it. Not only it's easy and fast way of using the car reminds me of Bixi, but also the location where you can find a car available makes it very&nbsp;convenient&nbsp;for people visiting or living in MTL. Now, as Bixi, Car2Go can be very expensive and I am going to share my first experience with you all.



After I applied online for a membership, I had to send a signed copy of an agreement by email and after, 5 business days I received at home my blue membership card which looks like this one:







If you are curious about how do I pay for this car, actually, when you create your profile, you will be asked to provide a valid credit card, which will be charged every time you use any of those Car2Go Smart cars.



I decided to have my first experience last night, so the first thing I did was to download the Car2Go Iphone app, which I really recommend for those thinking of using this system. This app will show you where you can find a Smart available, and not only show you how far the car is from you, but will give you an idea of the percentage of fuel in the car, since I didn't want to stop to fill up the car on my short trip, so I selected a car showing 100% fuel which was located downtown Montreal, at Maisonneuve Ouest parking location near Peel Metro station.



My final destination was at Avenue Decelles, as you can see on my bill details below.



Before we get into the details of the bill, I need to say I was very happy that Car2Go folks gave me 30Mins Free to use the car and a free membership, since I used the promotion code "PATINS", totally cool.





Alright, let's have a look at my bill, and as you can see, I was discounted 30minutes, actually 23min of my first trip going to Decelles and 7minutes on my way back and the rest (26min of 56min total) I was charged as described below.&nbsp;










DriverTrip startDeparture addressNetTAXTotal

Me11/11/2013 08:57 PMAvenue Decelles 5718, H3S Montréal$10.64$1.59$12.23Toggle Info






Destination address:
900 de Maisonneuve Ouest


Trip end:
11/11/2013 09:32 PM


Total distance:
10 km


Trip time:33 minNet&nbsp;$13.30TAX&nbsp;$1.99Total&nbsp;$15.29
Parking time:2 minNet&nbsp;$0.00TAX&nbsp;$0.00Total&nbsp;$0.00
Additional mileage:0 kmNet&nbsp;$0.00TAX&nbsp;$0.00Total&nbsp;$0.00
Free minutes:7 minutes of package "PATINS" consumed.Net&nbsp;$-2.66TAX&nbsp;$-0.40Total&nbsp;$-3.06





Me11/11/2013 05:50 PM900 de Maisonneuve Ouest$0.00$0.00$0.00Toggle Info






Destination address:
Avenue Decelles 5718, H3S Montréal


Trip end:
11/11/2013 06:12 PM


Total distance:
7 km


Trip time:23 minNet&nbsp;$8.74TAX&nbsp;$1.31Total&nbsp;$10.05
Parking time:0 minNet&nbsp;$0.00TAX&nbsp;$0.00Total&nbsp;$0.00
Additional mileage:0 kmNet&nbsp;$0.00TAX&nbsp;$0.00Total&nbsp;$0.00
Free minutes:23 minutes of package "PATINS" consumed.Net&nbsp;$-8.74TAX&nbsp;$-1.31Total&nbsp;$-10.05








Okay, now that you have looked at the cost, distance and time I traveled, I will make my final considerations, but to make this easier for everyone reading, I will separate on Pos and Cons:



Pos:

-To start with, come-on!! You only tap your Blue membership card on card reader located in the front of any Car2Go, and it will unlock the door for you, this couldn't be any easier. (I actually missed the "GlimGlim"sound of unlocking a Bixi, but the WELCOME message that Car2Go gives you when you enter in the car, makes you feel special.)



-You don't pay for GAS and you don't pay for insurance, plus if you have to stop for GAS, they will credit you free minutes.



-Smart cars are amazing, very comfortable, they have GPS system,&nbsp;air-conditioning&nbsp;and heat system on their seats, which for winter is a big plus. I really enjoyed the ride listening to a nice music in the car.



-Car2Go Website, App and in-car system is amazing, when you open the door of the car, it will talk to you, and I am not kidding.



-Smarts are very easy to drive and park, based on their size.



-Super cool feature Car2Go offers is the "Reservations" option for any car, you have 30 minutes to get to the car once you have booked it, and you can cancel your&nbsp;reservation anytime you want within those 30minutes.



-Free parking on street, that's another huge advantage of Car2Go, you don't have to worry about paying meters anymore (as long as you park within the Home Area or their&nbsp;designated&nbsp;parking area)



-After you are done with your trip, once again you have to tap your card on the card reader in the car, and you are done. I really love this process, specially for folks like me, used to sign contracts every time I needed to rent a car, grabbing a car to go on the street without having to talk to anyone and no signatures, almost feels unreal.&nbsp;



Cons:

-Nothing is perfect, there are some improvements to be made on the system of Car2Go and the first one for me is the price. I drove 7Km, which in Summer I would bike, of course using Bixi, but I am not sure $10(incl tax) is the right amount for that trip, I would honestly expect a little less than that.



-The GPS system was very slow in the car, and was telling me to go around, where it was supposed to tell me go straight. I ended up using google maps on my phone, which responded a lot better. Still minor improvements here would be nice.



-I would like to point the GPS again, I could not find any where on it's GPS a button to find parking around me, I had to use my phone, which once driving is not cool way for users to do.



-If you notice my trip back,&nbsp;although coming back to the same location, I ended up struggling finding the right parking area, that's all because the Home Area around my house, has some restricted parking for people living on those streets, plus there were extra signs showing those locations were not good for parking during a period of the morning. I saw another Car2Go parked on the same street, but I was still confused by where to park the Smart and worried about those signs, to be honest, I didn't feel comfortable living the car there, not knowing 100% I would not receive a ticket for living the car overnight on that street. I decided to go back to the reserved parking area, where I initially got the car. So, I guess if you are not totally sure where you can park the car, you could end up going around like me and being charged a lot more than you should, since you were not able to end your trip.





In my opinion, Car2Go seems to be great if you use it for more than 30minutes and less than 1 hour, this way you will be charged only $13.99+tx . In my case, I used the car for 56 minutes in total, but by breaking 2 short trips of 23 min + 33min and my total cost was near $25. Not something I would consider paying for normal school trip every week. Another consideration, once I had to take a taxi from my location to the same address I drove and I ended up paying $15 each way. Not much of difference if you consider that Taxi, you don't even have to worry about any kind of damage of even parking the car. I will wait to see if Car2Go presents some good pricing for people like me, otherwise, I will keep using it only when my conditions described above are met.



Hope you have learned something from this post, Cheers!



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