Car sharing has been around for ten years now. It's hard to believe that it's been that long or that it caught on so well. It's sort of like taking public transportation, only different. For those who don't understand how car sharing works, it's very simple to explain. The city owns a group of cars, and they have them at dedicated locations all over the area. People go and rent a car, and they pay less than five pounds per hour. They drive the car and return it to one of the other dedicated locations. They can rent it for an hour or for a day, but these cars are really not designed for long-term rentals. There are other car rental agencies for that. These car sharing vehicles are designed to help people get around the city and to help ensure that they have a car when they need it without the hassle of owning a car on their own. Anyone who has lived in a big city knows that it's very crowded and that there are only so many parking places available, especially to people who live in apartment buildings and other areas where there are a lot of people present all the time. However, if you don't own a car you might find that you have trouble doing things like shopping for groceries if you have a lot to buy.
The same is true for getting across town quickly, going somewhere where you need to look nice when the weather is bad, and other issues. That's why car sharing got started, so that people could get what they needed from a car at the times that they needed it, but so that they wouldn't have to own a car and pay the expense of it. They could be charged for a parking space, for registration, for insurance, for repairs, and for countless other issues, or they could simply pay a little bit when they need it and drive a car for a couple of hours. It's much more convenient, and there are enough drop-off points that a person wouldn't defeat his or her purpose by not being able to get to one without extensive walking and/or public transportation. While not perfect, car sharing is popular and looks as though it will stick around and only improve in the future. That's great news for anyone who uses the system or plans to do so.