Amtrak and Zip Car-Solving the Rental Problem

Twice I have ridden a taxicab with my wife in Chicago. Arrived at CUS with wife and luggage. Got cab from CUS to the Chicago HI hostel which is the cheapest good place to stay in Chicago. Distance was 2.5 to 3 miles fare with tip was $10. Return to CUS the next day was about the same.
With a zipcar at CUS, I could have got to the hostel, unloaded the wife and luggage and let her check in while I took back the zipcar within the hour. I would not like having to hike back the 2.5 miles with my wife wondering if I was going to return safely. If the 1 or 2 zipcars are in use, you are out of luck anyway if you have luggage.
For our coming trip to El Paso, I am hoping that the rental car company can meet us at the station and take us back to the airport where the rental cars are.

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:
So your entire argument centers on the need of Chicago urban dwellers to access a Walmart? I thought trendy urbanites didn't shop at Walmart? Of course, I've never quite understood the allure of Chicago to the trendy urbanites.

I wasn't even making the argument. Someone else was. I was just correcting the facts of the person who tried to make a flawed argument. If you had read the thread, you'd see that the argument rests on far more, and that all we were doing was refuting the foolishness of the guy who said you could get to Walmart cheaper in a cab.

Oh wait. You're the person who called zipcar "collectivist". Nice to see you've found time to get back to the thread in between hoeing your own potatoes and then constructing your own computer and internet connection from materials you've made yourself. Thanks for dropping by again. I can imagine reading and understanding is a luxury not always to be indulged in when you've got so many DIY projects going on. Best of luck. And hey, don't worry about sharing with others the tubes that bring us your witty and enlightening posts. We won't think of you as a hypocrite, even if that does smack of collectivism.

ne plus ultra wrote:I was just correcting the facts of the person who tried to make a flawed argument.

"Correcting the facts" by turning a one hour trip into three hours and increasing the rental rate to a high Chicago rate instead of the one given. More like ignoring the facts to skew the argument into something much more expensive than the example given. But if that is the way you want to portray it ...

This really isn't a Zip Car forum anyways ... perhaps it is time for one of our friendly moderators to put this thread out of its misery.

justalurker66 wrote:

ne plus ultra wrote:I was just correcting the facts of the person who tried to make a flawed argument.

"Correcting the facts" by turning a one hour trip into three hours and increasing the rental rate to a high Chicago rate instead of the one given.

I think you confused me with another poster, JamesSinclair, who said 3 hours. I was more or less supporting you (though I think your bus fare estimates were a little high for most places.) I was saying JamesSinclair's 3 hour estimate was too much, and that his assessment of cab fares and convenience was wrong.

Anyway, does anyone know how much is involved in this partnership? The original poster mentioned that you can get Amtrak guest rewards for using zipcars. Does Amtrak make parking available to zipcar, or is zipcar simply finding spaces on their own near some stations?

Mr. Ultra, I highly doubt that there is any further connection between ZipCar and Amtrak than the crediting of points to a Guest Rewards member's account, but I could be mistaken. Since, and this is a 'reasonably educated' guess made by one who regularly rents autos, the average Rental Agreement with a major concern is closed with charges in range of $300, Amtrak's commission on booking such a rental likely is greater than any that could be earned from a Zipcar rental.

In short, why jeopardize the dollars for the dimes; I believe that is what Amtrak would be addressing with any expansion of their existing arrangement with Zipcar. Acciordingly, I would not expect to see at the Amtrak web page a link through which a Zipcar could be booked.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. Ultra, I highly doubt that there is any further connection between ZipCar and Amtrak than the crediting of points to a Guest Rewards member's account, but I could be mistaken. Since, and this is a 'reasonably educated' guess made by one who regularly rents autos, the average Rental Agreement with a major concern is closed with charges in range of $300, Amtrak's commission on booking such a rental likely is greater than any that could be earned from a Zipcar rental.

In short, why jeopardize the dollars for the dimes; I believe that is what Amtrak would be addressing with any expansion of their existing arrangement with Zipcar. Acciordingly, I would not expect to see at the Amtrak web page a link through which a Zipcar could be booked.

Interesting. I hadn't thought of the commission.

As I've seen the zipcar/I-Go car model grow over the last several years, I've been somewhat surprised that car rental companies haven't looked into a similar model, not to replace their business model, but to supplement it. The two pricing strategies are probably at odds, making it difficult. It's got to concern a company like National to see some upstart now has 300 cars on the North Side of Chicago.

Well I have nothing but positive things to say about it. I got off the train, walked over to the car, tapped my smart card and was off to my hotel.

I would def recommend for day trips and short overnight stays.

ne plus ultra wrote:

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:
So your entire argument centers on the need of Chicago urban dwellers to access a Walmart? I thought trendy urbanites didn't shop at Walmart? Of course, I've never quite understood the allure of Chicago to the trendy urbanites.

I wasn't even making the argument. Someone else was. I was just correcting the facts of the person who tried to make a flawed argument. If you had read the thread, you'd see that the argument rests on far more, and that all we were doing was refuting the foolishness of the guy who said you could get to Walmart cheaper in a cab.

Oh wait. You're the person who called zipcar "collectivist".

Actually, it was a quote from the founder of Zipcar, from a Time magazine article.

ne plus ultra wrote: Nice to see you've found time to get back to the thread in between hoeing your own potatoes.....

It's still winter. In any case, potatoes require very little "hoeing" since the plants themselves tend to shade out the weeds.

ne plus ultra wrote:I think you confused me with another poster, JamesSinclair, who said 3 hours. I was more or less supporting you (though I think your bus fare estimates were a little high for most places.) I was saying JamesSinclair's 3 hour estimate was too much, and that his assessment of cab fares and convenience was wrong.

Sorry for the confusion. There was too much "correcting" going on.

gprimr1 wrote:Well I have nothing but positive things to say about it. I got off the train, walked over to the car, tapped my smart card and was off to my hotel.

I would def recommend for day trips and short overnight stays.

As long as the car is checked in overnight. Any fee per hour seems like a lot to pay for a parked car. Hopefully you can have a schedule that allows you to reserve and use the car when you need it and not pay for it when you don't. That would be the benefit of a Zip Car.

Otherwise a traditional rental could be the same price with less restrictions and no annual fee. (Example: Arrive at WAS and rent a $66 car for $82 per day or use one of the three ZipCars at the station for $69-$81 per day or $9.25-$11.25 per hour ... weekday rates.) There is a better chance that a car will be available and if the train is late you're not left holding an hourly reservation.

As long as the car is checked in overnight. Any fee per hour seems like a lot to pay for a parked car. Hopefully you can have a schedule that allows you to reserve and use the car when you need it and not pay for it when you don't. That would be the benefit of a Zip Car.

Unfortunately it did spend 8 hours parked. Fortunately they have a day rate to, in addition to the hourly rate.

But in reality I think I paid just as much as if I'd taken a cab from Berkley to Emeryville twice.

The day rate helps ... from the examples I've seen once you have the car for eight hours you might as well have it for 24. Keeping it beyond need doesn't help with having cars available for others to use but once the threshold is passed the rental cost is the same. Just keep the trip under 180 miles so you don't pay overage.

Yes, the day rate is a plus, and usually equals 8 hours of the hourly rate, in the range of $64 to $80 plus some pretty modest taxes. The only wrinkle is that you have to cancel 24 hours in advance with the day rate compared to 3 hours on the hourly rate - usually not a problem.

At the day rate, Zipcars are really quite competitive to traditional rentals, and often much cheaper, particularly for someone who doesn't already own a car and would want to purchase LDW that ordinarily runs about $27 a day at a traditional rental. Zipcar fees don't include things like facilty fees that traditional outlets at airports often do.

As to their use in an Amtrak LD type setting, a Zipcar renter staying 2 nights before catching the same train back out could rent a car to access a hotel just outside of walking distance of the transit network, conserve the mileage on one day and then explore the area more vastly on the second, keeping the total mileage under 360 to avoid overages - just a thought. I may still be looking to do this option when I stay in Phoenix later in the month, banking 3 days of mileage and then doing a trip to Tucson (though the overage charges are pretty tame). Shame I can't use Amtrak on this trip - freaking Maricopa.

FatNoah wrote:As a long term (+- 4 years) ZipCar member, I find that it is almost useless as a train-station connection for intercity travel. Since the cars must be returned to their original location, they are best suited for day trips.

I could use it to explore Chicago while on the 10 hour layovers between trains....

Baltimore will be adding a pair of Zipcar spots on St. Paul Street right outside of Penn Station in the coming week, as well as other Downtown spots easily reached by free Circulator bus or MTA.