A new category of faux car ownership has emerged amid the fierce competition of car sharing services. The new car sharing service that will be available inside your own building could change the economics of driving in busy urban areas.
Residents of the 479-unit Ritz Plaza apartment building can now purchase access to a fleet of shared SUV parked in their garage as an additional perk, thanks to the deal of General Motors and New York real estate firm Stonehenge Partners. The deal was unveiled in the press release given by General Motors.
GreenBiz reported that the executive director of GM's global urban mobility programs, Peter Kosak, told the news site that the goal of the deal is to "deliver automotive access that seems like ownership."
"You have access to mobility the way you have access to a pool or a fitness center," said Kosak.
The car sharing perks can be viewed as an additional luxury residential amenity, from a real estate perspective. But when viewed in the sustainability perspective, the opportunity is to help disseminate the use of more sustainable transportation infrastructure.
Kosar shared that the car sharing idea is changing the conventional wisdom of car manufacturers.
"The conventional wisdom is that automotive companies design, build and sell vehicles," he said. "This feels a lot more like replacing ownership or an alternative to ownership."
"Having a car in the city didn't seem realistic," Kosar added, calling the car sharing service "a game-changer that fundamentally alters my approach to transportation."
Kosak admitted that the car sharing services is a bit more like a premium offering and will tend to stay confined to high-end residential buildings and office owners with the budget to experiment.
"People will walk a greater distance maybe to pay less, or may not use sharing at all," Kosak said.
"The reality is people love personal transportation," Kosak concluded. "I think the trick here is to find solutions that are sustainable."
