I-GO has grown into an influential non-profit car sharing service providing affordable, convenient, green-friendly mobility to dozens of communities across the Chicago metro area. But at its inception, I-GO was a plucky start-up with just a few car locations.
Nancy Wu, a senior manager with Protiviti’s Finance and Accounting Excellence practice in Chicago, recently sat down for an interview with I-GO’s CEO Sharon Feigon and writes about I-GO’s impressive growth and technological development in her Back Office Mechanics blog.
Among the interesting tidbits in the Wu’s article:
- I-GO began with just four cars — two in Edgewater and two in Hyde Park.
- Some folks want to drive the electric vehicles I-GO has begun adding to its fleet so badly they’ll bypass the nearest I-GO car and travel to a more distant location just to experience the vehicle.
- In the old days, when I-GO had just a handful of cars, ignition keys were kept in lock boxes. The member would punch in the code to get to the key. At the end of a trip, the member would write down the usage information on a pad of paper in the car, and someone from I-GO would come and collect these pieces of papers for invoicing.
In case you’re wondering, here’s what those old lockboxes look like:
These days, of course, vehicle access is much more high-tech, involving a smartcard system that unlocks the vehicle by means of a windshield-mounted computer-networked RFID system. Yes, we’ve come a long way, baby.
The interview with Sharon Feigon is interesting reading for anyone curious about how I-GO got from point A to point Z. Although, of course, we’ve never been content to rest on our laurels and continue to improve the quality and convenience of our service and its benefits to members.
