I know this is incredibly late to the party, but I’ve been itching to respond to Erica C. Barnett’s piece regarding the Flexcar/Zipcar merger in last week’s Stranger.

Let me first state that I often agree with ECB and, quite frankly, am befuddled by all the hateful comments that her Slog posts unfailingly generate. I am emphatically not an ECB basher. However, her continued complaints about Zipcar are getting on my last nerve.

I will concede that yes, Flexcar was awesome and yes, the transition could have been handled better. But seriously, what transition couldn’t? The fact of the matter is Zipcar isn’t the Devil and acting like it is isn’t helping.

I’m not saying that no one should complain at all, but really, the way her piece read and the little teaser on the cover that week makes it seem like everyone should drop their Flex/Zipcar memberships and run. And that isn’t the case at all. Just because a certain Josh didn’t get his access card and then received three is no reason to abandon the company all together. Just like the fact that I had good service* in and of itself shouldn’t make people jump up and join. One of the reasons restaurants aren’t generally reviewed in the first two months is that it is understood that they have to shake out the kinks. We have no reason to believe that customer service problems faced during the transition will be ongoing.

Like ECB, I do not own a car and I live very well without one. Unlike ECB (apparently), I think it is important we should do everything we can to help others realize that they can live happily without a car, too. Very public complaints about minor inconveniences – whether about the new car sharing company or taking the bus – make it that much easier for people to continue to believe that owning a car isn’t a choice but a necessity. And it is a choice. A choice a lot of people are making without fully exploring all of their options.

I’m afraid that if drivers see that Zipcar’s fees are higher and that some cars are being removed that that’s all they’ll see. When the truth of the matter is that even with the new non-waived $50 yearly fee**, it’s still cost-effective for a person to not own a car. Not to be press release-y, but if you use AAA’s figures from 2007, the estimated cost of owning a small sedan is $7,487 /year or $624 /month***. Even the highest amount of usage quoted on Zipcar is about half that at $324. Not to mention the fact, that if people are encouraged to join car sharing – more cars will be introduced and costs will eventually go down.

In addition to the $300+ I save each month (for drinks, of course), there are soft savings one incurs by being involved in car sharing. Savings such as: less stress from worrying about traffic, gas prices, designated drivers, parking, insurance rates, the car vandalism that occurs near my apartment, depreciation, and that asshole who just cut me off. My morning commute I can catch up on my reading or *gasp* talk to my neighbors. I also have a very good excuse to not go grocery shopping and instead have groceries delivered to my door. And that’s just the stuff from the top of my head.

Seriously, there are benefits to car sharing — and not just for tree huggers — but for those who get higher utility spending their hard earned cash and time on things besides solenoids and gasoline and 30+ minutes in gridlock. These benefits should be the things that are published and shared. I mean, can’t we agree that the ultimate goal is getting cars off the road? And shouldn’t we do what we can to help make that happen?

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* I got a card prior to the transition, but when I went to use it for the first time it didn’t work. I called Zipcar, got a person and I had a replacement card in my hand in less than 5 minutes. I was very impressed.

** Which, by the way, is less than half of what it costs for City CarShare ($10/month, 1 year contract = $120 a year) in the Bay area, the ideal that ECB would like to see here in Seattle.

*** One thing that’s interesting to note from this statistic is that AAA is basing fuel cost on the median average in 2006, which was $2.256. 2.256! The median for 2007 was $2.954 and so far in 2008, it’s been $3.126 [doe data].