I-GO is excited to announce the expansion of its local, non-profit, car sharing program to the 38th Ward! As part of its ongoing partnership with the Chicago Park District, a red Toyota Prius Hybrid is now located in the Portage Park parking lot at 5456 W. Berteau.
I-GO’s 14,000+ members have hourly access to a fleet of more than 200 eco-friendly cars conveniently located in 35 Chicago neighborhoods and four suburbs. Reservations can be made minutes before you need a car or up to a year in advance from your computer, smart phone, or by calling I-GO’s 24-hour reservation line. Unlike car rental, there are no lines to wait in, no paperwork to fill out, and our cars can be picked up and returned any time of the day or night and any day of the week (including Sundays and holidays).
Rates start as low as $6.75 an hour or $70 a day and include gas, insurance, a reserved parking space and all vehicle maintenance! (Rates do not include tax and vary depending on pricing plan, car type and day of the week.) I-GO locations on the northwest side now include Portage Park, Avondale, Logan Square, Old Irving, Albany Park and Lincoln Square (Jefferson Park is coming soon).
To celebrate this Portage Park expansion, I-GO is offering Portage Park area residents a special discount: Join now for only $25 and also receive $25 in free driving (a total of $75 in savings). Just enter the promotion code PORTAGE in the “Promotions” section of the online application form. (The offer expires 12/31/10). If you’re already a member, share this email with someone that you know. If they join and enter your name in the referral field on the application, you get $20 in free driving!
When transit, walking or biking isn’t an option, use I-GO for your grocery shopping and errand running, to get to appointments and sports practices on time, or to visit friends and family in the suburbs. When you need a car by the hour or by the day, I-GO is the answer!
The Center for Neighborhood Technology, the nonprofit urban sustainability “think and do” tank that hatched I-GO back in 2002, is making waves lately with its Housing + Transportation Affordability Index. The H+T Index is a sophisticated online tool that gives folks the real lowdown on the costs linking transportation and housing.
Today, CNT announced that it is providing its ground-breaking transportation cost information to the popular website WalkScore.com.
CNT also recently launched Abogo, a website that measures what an average household in a neighborhood spends on getting around — including car ownership, car use, and transit use. Read about it on Grist.
Walk Score, which allows users to obtain a “walkability” rating for a specific location based on the number of nearby amenities, is using data from the index to give its users a sense of transportation costs and environmental impact for a neighborhood. Here’s an example. CNT’s H+T Index is the nation’s most comprehensive assessment of household transportation costs by location.
“The time and money spent commuting is lost forever,” said Josh Herst, CEO of Walk Score. “By incorporating CNT’s Housing + Transportation Index into our commute reports, we are increasing the transparency of transportation costs and empowering people to make more informed decisions about where they live and work.”
The H+T Index presents housing and transportation cost data for neighborhoods in 337 metro areas, enabling users to compare the relative costs of communities within a region. The H+T Index is a robust transportation model that quantifies household transportation costs using census data, residential density, transit access, employment proximity, and block size. Importantly, the H+T Index illustrates how choosing to live in walkable, transit-connected neighborhood can lower household expenses and one’s impact on the environment.
“When choosing where to live, the housing costs of a neighborhood are readily available, but the costs of getting around are hidden,” said Scott Bernstein, president of CNT. “Our data reveals a neighborhood’s hidden transportation costs and gives people a much better sense of a community’s affordability.”
CNT is making its transportation cost data available through an application programming interface (API), which allows partner sites, such as Walk Score, to integrate average transportation costs and carbon impact with their own content.
“We’re pleased to have Walk Score as our first API partner,” said Linda Young, CNT’s research director. “People need a complete picture of affordability when making important decisions about where to live, and CNT is excited to work with other groups to disseminate this information as far and wide as possible.”
The API provides a link to CNT’s new consumer-oriented website Abogo (Abogo.cnt.org). A combination of the words “abode” and “go,” Abogo allows users to type in an address and find the average transportation costs for a typical household living at that location. Transportation costs include car ownership, gas and transit expenses.
CNT’s H+T research on housing affordability has implications for the nation. Based on a traditional definition of housing affordability — households spend 30 percent or less of their income on housing — seven out of 10 U.S. communities are considered “affordable” for the typical household. But when the definition is expanded to include housing and transportation costs — households spend 45 percent or less of their income on the two expenses — only four in 10 communities are affordable to households earning the area median income. CNT’s data allows users to locate communities that fit their housing and transportation budget.
One of our plug-in electric cars is located in the Millennium Park garage. But it’ll be above ground in the spotlight during the festivities surrounding the world premiere and free screening of Carbon Nation (pictured above), a new film about climate change solutions by documentary filmmaker Peter Byck. Comedian Hal Sparks will perform, and the big green lug from Shrek the Musical will meander down the green carpet. We’ll be sharing I-GO’s EV plans with visitors, and we hope you’re among them!
Here are the details:
Carbon Nation Celebration
Tues, Aug 10, 7-10pm
Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park
201 E. Randolph St. between Michigan Ave. and Columbus Ave.
Free admission
Yep, free. Our plug-in gets charged, but you won’t.
I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon with the Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (iMiEV).
We’ve had a blast at I-GO previewing Mitsubishi’s new i MiEV electric car. It’s not yet available to the American public, but it was parked at our Wicker Park office for a few weeks — enough time for the I-GO and CNT staffs to fall in love with the cute, little bugger.
I-GO has plans to add lots of electric vehicles (EVs) to our fleet by the end of 2011, combined with a network of EV charging stations that will be built around Chicago. Our evaluation so far? Lookin’ good, i MiEV. 100 miles to the gallon on a single full charge works for us. It’s got some pep, a nice turning radius (you could squeeze it into pretty much any parking space), and it’s a smooth, comfortable ride, too, with a surprising amount of space in the back seats and cargo area.
I-GO members got a charge out of the i MiEV too. We invited members to a sneak preview of the car on Tuesday, July 27, at our office.
Please RSVP to Lauren@igocars.org with your name and the names of any guests.
Mitsubishi’s adorable, new, zero-emissions electric vehicle (EV) puts the grin in green. It gets up to 100 miles on a full battery charge. Emits only 30% of the CO2 of a gas-powered minicar even when taking into account emissions at the power plants that generate the electricity needed to charge the car. And it costs at least one-third less to drive (or even less, depending on the price of electricity and whether it’s charged during off-peak hours) than a comparable gasoline vehicle. The i MiEV gets its oomph from high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries and a compact, highly efficient motor.
Oh, and it looks like an egg. Or, if Japanese anime is your thing, a Pokemon character. If it had cheeks we’d pinch them.
So why are we telling you this? Because I-GO is one of the few places in North America where Mitsubishi has chosen to demo the i MiEV, currently sold only in Japan. And we’re inviting I-GO members to drop by our office to take a spin.
As an environmentally driven nonprofit, I-GO is making plans to add electric vehicles to its fleet. The i MiEV demo is a rare sneak preview of one such EV our members may be driving in the near future. We’d love to hear what you think of it. Your feedback will help us evaluate our EV options.
We’ll also be doling out discounted I-GO memberships at the event. So bring along a friend, family member, coworker, or classmate who’s been contemplating the car-sharing lifestyle. And queue up for a ride around the block in the i MiEV with I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon.
No, you can’t reserve the i MiEV for an I-GO trip — yet. But you can reserve any of the other diverse, low-emission vehicles in our fleet. Half of them are hybrids. Two are plug-in hybrids that also get stratospheric mileage and help reduce our addition to oil and gas.
RESERVE AN I-GO CAR TODAY!
At I-GO, we’re focused on an greener, cleaner tomorrow. Renewable energy and dwindling dependence on fossil fuels. Affordable sustainability. Car sharing is already eco-friendly. Let’s plug in and make it even friendlier.
Chicagoans love their parks and justifiably so — the Chicago Park District does an amazing job maintaining a diverse collection of green recreational gems scattered in neighborhoods across the city. I-GO and the CPD have been working together for a long time to bring car sharing to the park employees and nearby residents of several park locations.
With the recent addition of a 2011 Ford Fiesta hatchback (ID# 4453) at Warren Park (6601 N. Western Ave.) in west Rogers Park, I-GO now has cars at seven CPD parks: Ridge, Independence, Margate (pictured above), Kosciusko, South Shore Cultural Center, Warren, and Horner. (Search for them by neighborhood here.) The The all-American Fiesta is, indeed, a party on wheels: It sports voice-activated SYNC technology and Sirius Satellite Radio amenities.
“The important partnership with I-GO Car Sharing allows the Chicago Park District to continue our greening initiative efforts, an important core value at the Park District,” says Brendan Daley, Director of the Office of Green Initiatives at the Chicago Park District. “The Park District recognizes the importance and benefits of having a car sharing program available to our staff, which helps reduce our fleet fuel costs and wear and tear on our vehicles. Additionally, placing I-GO vehicles in some of our parks allows us to provide park patrons an opportunity to be good environmental stewards.”
We heartily agree and think it’s a great example of local green thinkers collaborating to promote a sustainable path toward an even greener, cleaner Chicago.
There aren’t many organizations in Chicago that can lay claim to being a historic treasure and vibrant cultural magnet for local communities. The Old Town School of Folk Music, a half century old and counting, definitely fits that description. From the old timers like Odetta and John Prine who gigged there back in the day to the globally inspired diversity of musical instruction and performance that prevails today, the OTSFM is one place locals have always rooted for.
Speaking of roots, I-GO will once again have a booth at OTSFM’s annual Folk & Roots Festival this Saturday and Sunday, July 10-11. This is one of our fave summer fests — so laid-back, with such a unique musical lineup — and we’ll be celebrating by dishing out $25 discount I-GO memberships to fest goers.
If you’re in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, stop by, get your world-music groove on, and get on-board with huge savings at I-GO!
I-GO has long been a strong supporter of Chicago’s LGBT community — and vice versa. Once again, we had a blast joining in the annual Pride Parade festivities this past weekend. We brought along a bright red, funky, new I-GO Nissan Cube for the ride along the parade route in Lakeview. I-GO’s Justin Hardesty (in full-on blushing bride regalia) organized the outing, and the Windy City Rollers — Chicago’s roller derby dames nonpareil and, natch, I-GO members — brought their own sets of wheels to the party. Thanks to all our amazing volunteers for chipping in, too!
Couldn’t make it out to the parade? Not to worry. We snapped a few photos to share with you:
The American Automobile Association (AAA) reports in its most recent “Your Driving Costs” annual study that — surprise, surprise — the average price of owning and operating a vehicle in the U.S. has gone up.
The AAA says you can expect to shell out as much as $9,519 per year, assuming 15,000 miles of driving in a medium sedan. The main culprit? Again, no surprise: higher fuel prices. To determine the overall comparative figures, the AAA factored in insurance, license and registration fees plus taxes, depreciation and finance charges as well as the direct operational costs of fuel, maintenance and tires.
That’s more than most of us spend on groceries or utilities, travel, entertainment, clothes and shoes, and hobbies — combined.
Conversely, a typical I-GO member spends only about $2,520 per year on transportation.
That bears repeating: Less than $3K yearly. And many I-GO members spend far less by biking and walking more and using public transit more frequently.
Big difference. And in this economy, it’s an especially big, helpful difference.
All the more reason, we say at I-GO, to support car sharing and adopt it in more communities across the country. Car sharing not only saves money, it’s also good for the environment and makes our communities cleaner, less congested, more beautiful places to live.
Summer in ChiTown means baseball. Chilling on the lakefront. Street fests. Al fresco dining.
And road trips!
Whether you’re en route to Milwaukee, the Indiana Dunes, or Michigan’s Harbor Country, I-GO’s the way to go this summer. Effective Tuesday, June 15, 2010, and running through midnight on Monday, September 6, 2010, we’re giving our free mileage policy a boost that’ll save you money whether you’re headed out of town for a weekend or just need a car available round-the-clock closer to home.
Here’s the deal:
You get 150 free miles included on all trips lasting up to 24 hours. If your reservation does not exceed 24 hours, it’s $.40/mile for every mile over 150 miles.
After 24 hours have lapsed, we’ll give you 25 free miles for each additional hour up to a maximum of 150 miles. For every mile over 300 miles on your trip, you’ll be charged $.40 per mile.
When you consider that every car in I-GO’s fuel-efficient, low-emission fleet (nearly half our cars are hybrids) already gets great mileage already, it’s road-tripping at its greenest.
Please note:
The 300-mile-maximum option applies only to all-day-rate vehicles with reservations between 30 and 72 hours. The maximum reservation is 72 hours.
You get 25 additional free miles for each hour between 24-30. There is a 300 mile cap at the 30th hour.
The GO Standard driving plan also includes an all-day-rate option that can be used eight times a year to take advantage of this offer.
So get out there and enjoy these fleeting summer days. Our affordable, convenient cars are waiting for you.
Peter Haas, CNT’s Chief Research Scientist, is the featured speaker at the Alder After Dark program tonight, which starts at 6pm at the Adler, 224 S. Michigan Avenue. And I-GO will be there, too, to give a rocket boost to car sharing, offering discount membership signups. Plus, you can sip cocktails, graze on appetizers, and peek through the Doane Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the Midwest accessible to the public. Admission is $7 for Adler members, $10 for non-members, and if you bike and show your helmet, you get $5 off. Far out, man.
Our office mate, Peter, will give a presentation covering CNT’s work on location efficiency. CNT has long promoted the symbiotic advantage of pairing housing development and public transportation. Its advocacy efforts on a local, state, and national level have led to the creation of such programs as the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, which measures the true cost of housing based on its location by measuring the transportation costs associated with place, and the Location Efficient Mortgage, which helps people become homeowners in location efficient communities.
Much like energy efficiency, location efficiency can drive how a household uses economic and natural resources in a more or less sustainable manner. Living in a community with access to goods, services, and jobs without dependence on cars uses resources in a more sustainable manner. Peter’s talk will examine how CNT measures location efficiency, its driving mechanisms, and how it can be used to promote more sustainable decisions by national, regional, and household decision makers.
We snapped a few pix of yesterday’s alternative transportation fair at Uncommon Ground. I-GO charged into the event with one of our Prius plug-ins, an ultra-efficient ride that gets up to 100mpg. There were lots of other cool sights on hand, too, that give us more hope for a future when energy-efficient, eco-friendly transportation rules the day. For a full description and captions of each photo, click here.
One of our fave hangouts in Chicago — Uncommon Ground at 1401 W. Devon Ave. in Rogers Park — is hosting another alternative transportation show this Thursday from 6 to 8pm. It’s part of the uber-green restaurant/bar/music venue’s monthly Green Room Sessions program, which highlight environmentally progressive organizations, goods, and services.
I-GO has been a featured guest at a few of these deals. And they’re all well worth checking out. But we really love the alternative transportation-themed evening, which has become a popular annual highlight of the Green Room Sessions. Most of it takes place in UC’s enclosed parking lot, which is equipped with electrical outlets for plug-in electric vehicles — such as the plug-in Prius we’ll be displaying.
I-GO has two such plug-ins in its fleet: at 201 E. Randolph St. in the Millennium Park north garage and at 900 S. Clark in the AMLI residential development garage. We partnered with ComEd to convert the Priuses, which are equipped with sophisticated lithium-ion battery packs developed by A123 Systems, one of the U.S.’s most exciting, new green tech innovators. Within their electric driving range, these cars are capable of up to 100mpg fuel efficiency, which further helps us reduce the amount of CO2 emissions from our already very low-emissions fleet. And we plan to add more of them to the fleet in the near future.
Besides our plug-in, you can check out a variety of green transportation options at this event, like the all-electric Tesla Roadster sportscar, a Zero electric motorcycle, hybrids, bio-diesel vehicles, veggie oil vehicles, cargo bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, and lots more. I-GO member Joe Baldwin will be there to talk about his Mobile Garden proposed concept for the CTA, and so will a rep from Carbon Day Automotive, who will display a ChargePoint charging station for EVs.
Uncommon Ground also dishes out some delicious, locally sourced food and drink. (Some of it courtesy of its own huge rooftop kitchen garden.) Enjoy free appetizers featuring the product of a local farmer or producer prepared by Uncommon Ground’s Executive Chef Brian Millman.
I-GO Car Sharing members reduced CO2 emissions in Chicago by 45,718 metric tons in 2009 and saved $24 million by not buying cars, gas, and insurance.
Those statistics are among the findings in a recently completed environmental impact study conducted by I-GO, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing car ownership and harmful greenhouse gas emissions through car sharing. The results are based on annual survey research compiled from I-GO’s diverse membership, which is spread across the metropolitan Chicago area and has doubled in the past three years, attracted by dramatically lower costs and environmental benefits of car sharing versus car ownership.
As the BP oil spill proceeds unchecked in the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking environmental and economic devastation, and posing serious questions about the merits of offshore drilling and our thirst for oil at any price, consumers can help offset our dependence on fossil fuels by turning to car sharing.
It’s been estimated that U.S. automobiles and light trucks are responsible for nearly half of all greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles globally, and carbon dioxide emissions from personal vehicles in the United States equaled 314 million metric tons in 2004, according to a 2006 study by the Environmental Defense Fund. That study determined that while Americans own only 30 percent of the 700 million vehicles that are in use worldwide, cars in the U.S. account for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions because they are driven farther, have lower fuel economy standards, and burn fuel with higher levels of carbon than many of the cars in other countries.
I-GO’s study indicates that its members effectively removed 9,451 cars from the roads, given that nearly half of its members reported selling or postponing the purchase of a car when they joined. Each I-GO car replaces 15 to 20 privately owned cars. I-GO members also achieved a reduction of approximately 119,558,984 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in 2009, in comparison to the estimated amount of miles they would have driven had they not enrolled in a car sharing program. And they prevented an estimated 11.5 metric tons of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and 16 metric tons of mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 (Nox) from otherwise polluting the atmosphere.
I-GO members reserve cars by the hour only when they need them, averaging short trips of two to three hours in duration, and drive 97 percent less per year, on average, than typical Chicago car owners. They rely more on public transit, bicycles, and walking as well. And I-GO employs only fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles in its fleet. Gas-electric hybrid cars comprise approximately 40 percent of I-GO’s fleet, which also includes two plug-in hybrid electric vehicles capable of up to 100 mpg fuel efficiency. I-GO membership can help households reduce typical annual transportation costs of $7,300 by as much as $5,000 a year.
We had an amazing time at the Chicago Green Festival this past weekend. It was the fourth annual incarnation of this mammoth fair dedicated to sustainability in all its varied shapes and forms, from serious consumer home products to recycled jewelry to alternative transportation. So much to see and do under one roof at Navy Pier. If you couldn’t make it this year, don’t miss it next time it rolls around. At the I-GO booth, we were once again spreading the green gospel of car sharing, tempting fair-goers with discount membership sign-ups, and entertaining them with a bumper-car game. We took a bunch of photos of the various merchants, orgs, and services on display and posted them on our Flickr photostream.
I-GO recently was named Best Car Sharing Company in Chicago in Mindful Metropolis magazine’s first annual Best of Mindful Chicago Awards. Here’s the complete list of honorees.
Readers of the local magazine — which covers health and wellness, environmentalism, and other great causes near and dear to our green hearts — were asked to vote for people, businesses, organizations, and communities that deserve recognition for “the way they incorporate mindful practices.”
Those practices could include any or all of the following: use of green products, use of sustainable materials, recycling initiatives, holistic healing, fostering of community, kindness, and compassion.
Needless to say, we were honored and grateful for the accolade, given out at the magazine’s Green Carpet Gala, a kickoff party for this past weekend’s Chicago Green Festival, held
Friday, May 21, at the Marmon Grand Ballroom, 2230 South Michigan Ave. Thanks to Mindful Metropolis and to all our members who encourage us to be mindful about sustainable transportation every day.
It’s getting hot in Chicago: Baseball is back. The Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup final. The beaches are swarming, sweaters have been mothballed, and we’re lovin’ it.
How much are we lovin’ it? Enough to offer you a sizzling deal right off the I-GO BBQ grill: We’re calling it the I-GO Triple Play. Tinkers to Evers to Chance. These savings are going around the horn, baby, and straight into your mitt.
Through Memorial Day — next Monday, May 31 — you can join I-GO for just $25 AND receive $25 in free driving. And if a current I-GO member is listed on your online application form as referring you to I-GO, that member will get $20 in free driving on their account.
All you need to do is enter TRIPLEPLAY and, if applicable, the referring member’s name in the “Promotions” section of the application form. That’s it. We’ll take care of the rest. All you need to worry about is your next destination in a fuel-efficient, affordably priced I-GO vehicle near your home, office, or campus.
It’s a three-for-all, folks. So tell your friends, family, co-workers, and classmates. The more you play this game, the more you win.
The $25 application fee applies to the first year of membership. (Thereafter, it’s also just 25 bucks to renew annually. Yep, still a great bargain.) And new members must use the $25 in free driving within 30 days of joining. But, hey, with Memorial Day weekend coming up, and so many other great things happening in and around Chicago as the weather heats up, why wouldn’t you want to get out there and join the fun?
Just a last-minute reminder to everyone that we’ll be at Green Fest on Navy Pier this weekend. And, yes, we’ll once again be slinging discount memberships for visitors to our booth. But, really, we just want to encourage everyone to check out the fest. This is the fourth annual version of this touring juggernaut, and it keeps getting better and more substantial. It’s a great mix of new consumer products, workshops, artisan crafts, tasty healthy chow, and way more. And at this critical moment in our history, it’s a great crash course in how the public can chip in and make a difference for our environment. Hope to see you there!
If you’ve taken a ride on a CTA train or bus lately, or waited on a platform for a Metra train to arrive, we may have bumped into you. I-GO is currently running an ad campaign on public transit. The ad pictured here is one of several variations on the same theme: I-GO is an affordable, convenient, and environmentally conscious alternative to owning a car.
To make things really interesting, we’ve added a contest angle: If you spot an ad, tell us where you saw it and we’ll award $100 in free driving to the member who reports the most sightings on our Facebook page and/or Twitter stream. We’ve already given away one prize, and we’ve got two to go. The second month of the contest ends June 7, so it’s not to late to compete for this sweet prize. Here are the rules:
Our ads are on CTA rail cars and buses and CTA and Metra platforms. When you spot one, take note of the rail line, bus route number, or station.
Into Twitter? Tweet the deets to “igocarsharing” on Twitter.com via your fave Twitter mobile app or PC. Even better: Snap a photo of an ad with your phone and attach it to your tweet. Prefer Facebook? Fan us at www.facebook.com/igocars and post the info on our wall.
If you feel so inclined, use the hash tag “#igocta” in your tweet to chat us up on Twitter.
We’ll announce the first winner on June 7 on our blog, Facebook page, and on Twitter.
Know someone who should be an I-GOer but isn’t yet? Tell ‘em to text us when they spot an ad. The keywords and short codes are on each ad. When someone texts us, we’ll send them a promo code good for a discounted $25 sign-up. And if they name a current I-GO member as a reference on their application, we’ll add $20 in free driving to your account!
Headin’ out on the highway and lookin’ for adventure is about to get a whole lot easier for I-GO members.
Beginning June 1st, all I-GO vehicles will be registered with the Illinois Tollway. Here is some important information that every member should be aware of:
No more fines. Once all our vehicles are registered with the tollway they should no longer receive a tollway violation unless there is some sort of error—in which case we will resolve the issue directly with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
Out of sight, man! The I-PASS transponders we use are not the common white box mounted on the interior of the front windshield of a vehicle. For obvious security reasons, we prefer not to divulge the specifics of their installation. But trust us, they’re there, even though you don’t see ‘em.
Sayonara, cash lane. All I-GO vehicles will be able to use the high-speed automatic toll lane as of June 1st. Members will no longer need to use the slower cash lane!
Better billing. All toll trips and costs will be automatically synched with member invoices.
Real-time charges. Transponders will eliminate instances when charges show up on your billing invoice a month later. This lag time in data processing is common with the Tollway Authority’s “V-Tolling” system, in which license plates are scanned by cameras.
Interior info. We will also be removing tollway “pay online” slips from the vehicles, as well as those velcro mounting strips on the windshield previously used for I-PASS transponders. We will be replacing those with decals informing members that the vehicle they are driving is equipped with an I-PASS.
Don’t take it personally. Members will not be able to use their personal I-PASS, but will pay an I-PASS rate. I-GO charges a service fee of $0.10 per toll for processing on top of the toll cost.
While I-GO members will no longer be able to use their own I-PASS, we feel this will be a greater convenience. You’ll avoid the hassle of registering and unregistering your I-PASS with each vehicle on a trip-by-trip basis just to save a few cents. It’s also been common for members to neglect registering their I-PASS, and then accrue violations and charges. And members often forget to remove their personal I-PASS from our cars at the end of their trips.
This method will be more time-efficient for everybody, since the charges will automatically appear on monthly invoices.
We’re psyched about this. And we think our members will be, too. It’s a great, new benefit for I-GO members, and we hope it makes your next trip on the Tollway a breeze.
We just introduced three new fuel-efficient car types to the I-GO fleet: the 2010 Ford Focus and Nissan’s 2010 Versa and 2010 Nissan Cube.
We’re psyched about the Focus four-door sedan, which features Microsoft’s voice–command-activated SYNC technology and Sirius satellite radio. Got Bluetooth on your mobile device? SYNC lets you make hands-free calls, browse tunes on your MP3 player, receive turn-by-turn directions, and more. Learn how it works here. Then go play Knight Rider and book one for yourself today.
The Ford Focuses are located at the following addresses:
The Nissan Versa four-door compact hatchback offers excellent rear-seat room and cargo capacity (hello, groceries!). The aptly named crossover Nissan Cube, with its squared-off asymmetrical curved design (which earned it AUTOMOBILE Magazine’s 2010 Design of the Year award), is just as surprising inside, with a spacious, aesthetically pleasing interior that gives it a touch of upmarket elegance.
Or, to borrow a riff from the Kinks: I-GO wants to be with you all day and all of the night.
Starting in May, 2010, I-GO is offering a new low overnight rate and discounted, more inclusive all-day rates. Here are the details:
A night out with I-GO
Beginning in May, 2010, trips made on Monday through Thursday from 9pm to 7am will cost only $29!
For trips that start before 9pm and end after 7am, extra hours will be charged at the regular hourly rate according to your rate plan. This special overnight rate will apply to any trip that occurs in May and June, 2010, and is only available for members on residential driving plans. This rate does not include tax or additional fines or fees that may be incurred, and does not apply to larger vehicle classes like compact SUVs, minivans and small trucks.
Spend the day with I-GO
Beginning May, 2010, we’re reducing our all-day rate by $5 for trips made from 12 a.m. on Monday through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday! Additionally, from Monday to Friday, all vehicles can be reserved with all-day rates!
These changes will apply to trips that occur in May and June, 2010, and are only available for members on residential driving plans.
Big thanks to Random House Audio and author Elizabeth Berg for teaming up with I-GO yesterday to help launch our audiobook partnership with Random House. Berg (pictured, center, with I-GO’s Richard Kosmacher and Anjuli Seth) spoke yesterday about her new novel, The Last Time I Saw You, at the Barnes & Noble at State & Jackson.
I-GO tabled at the event and passed out audiobook CD samplers featuring popular Random House authors. The same CDs can be found in our cars for our members’ listening literary pleasure during car-sharing trips. Through the program, members of I-GO and other regional non-profit car sharing providers are entitled to discount audiobooks at a new website Random House created for this partnership.
Author Elizabeth Berg is pitching in to help I-GO launch our new audiobook program today with Random House. We’ll be hanging out with the local luminary and best-selling author, who’ll be reading from and signing copies of her new novel, The Last Time I Saw You, from 5 to 8pm today at the Barnes & Noble at State and Jackson (in the DePaul University campus building). Join us! Pick up free swag! Get lit (in the literary sense)! And then “book” an I-GO car to check out the free audiobook samplers we’ve placed in all our cars.
Recently, I-GO member Rene Napier spotted herself in an I-GO ad on a CTA train platform. She posted this photo on I-GO’s Facebook page:
Cool pic! We love how Rene edited the photo to turn herself black and white (just like her doppelganger in the ad) while keeping the rest of the image in full color. We like to think it’s a metaphor for I-GO keepin’ it green.
Says Rene:
“I owned a car for three years, and yikes, was it expensive! Since I need a car only once a week, for grocery shopping and errands, it doesn’t make financial sense for me to own one. I-GO has been a very economical alternative. It is convenient too. I live in Oak Park, and there are three I-GO locations here, including one that is a few blocks from my apartment. The online reservation system is very easy to use, and cars have been available when I need them. I’m a big fan of I-GO. It’s perfect for me.”
Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! It’s a big deal for the environmental movement and a big deal for I-GO. Our street team is making the rounds at several Earth Day events this week. They all promise to be fun, educational, and — these days, in light of climate change and the need to develop alternative energy sources — critically important in galvanizing support among the public. Stop by, say hi, and check ‘em out. We’ll be doling out discounts on I-GO sign-ups, so tell your friends, family, and coworkers!
We’re especially psyched about the big Daley Plaza Earth Day 2010 event tomorrow from 11am to 2pm. I-GO will have one of its plug-in Priuses — cars capable of up to 100mpg fuel efficiency — on Daley Plaza (50 W. Washington St.)!
The Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP) and Chicago’s Department of Environment are joining forces to create one of the biggest and most informative Earth Day events in the city. “What’s Your Climate Action?” is the theme and attendees will learn about CCAP’s five strategies for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. We understand Illinois’ own Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, will be on hand along with Mayor Daley, of course, so it ought to draw quite a midday Loop crowd. We’re looking forward to it!
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) was just awarded $25 million to help carry out energy-efficient retrofits to commercial and residential buildings in northeastern Illinois, and our colleagues at CNT Energy played a major role in authoring the original proposal. Big-time congrats to the Center for Neighborhood Technology!
Vice President Biden will today kick off five days of Administration events around the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with the announcement of the selection of 25 communities for up to $452 million in Recovery Act funding to “ramp-up” energy efficiency building retrofits. Under the Department of Energy’s Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative, communities, governments, private sector companies and non-profit organizations will work together on pioneering and innovative programs for concentrated and broad-based retrofits of neighborhoods and towns – and eventually entire states. These partnerships will support large-scale retrofits and make energy efficiency accessible to hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses. The models created through this program are expected to save households and businesses about a $100 million annually in utility bills, while leveraging private sector resources, to create what funding recipients estimate at about 30,000 jobs across the country during the next three years.
Chris Crutchfield, who provided the voiceover and music for I-GO’s How it Works video tutorial, recently published this new vid on Vimeo. We can only hope this is how Congress will duke it out over finance reform.
We don’t know who goes by the Twitter moniker “skinnyfilipino” but we’re happy to buy him or her lunch sometime for posting this pic of an I-GO CTA ad in our Twitter feed.
Join the contest on Twitter & our Facebook page — $100 in free driving to the member who posts the most I-GO ad sightings this month and for each of the next two months!
I-GO supporter Eric Steigerwald recently spotted this I-GO ad on the platform at the Roosevelt Green Line stop:
Thanks, Eric!
If you’ve taken a ride on a CTA train or bus lately, or waited on a platform for a Metra train to arrive, we may have bumped into you. I-GO is currently running an ad campaign on public transit. The ad pictured here is one of several variations on the same theme: I-GO is an affordable, convenient, and environmentally conscious alternative to owning a car.
To make things really interesting, we’re adding a contest angle: If you spot an ad, tell us where you saw it and we’ll enter you in a drawing to win $100 in free driving. We’re going to pick one winner monthly for the next three months. Ready? Here are the rules:
Our ads are on CTA rail cars and buses and CTA and Metra platforms. When you spot one, take note of the rail line, bus route number, or station.
Into Twitter? Tweet the deets to “igocarsharing” on Twitter.com via your fave Twitter mobile app or PC. Even better: Snap a photo of an ad with your phone and attach it to your tweet. Prefer Facebook? Fan us at www.facebook.com/igocars and post the info on our wall.
If you feel so inclined, use the hash tag “#igocta” in your tweet to chat us up on Twitter.
We’ll announce the first winner on May 5 on our blog, Facebook page, and Twitter, as well as in our May newsletter.
Know someone who should be an I-GOer but isn’t yet? Tell ‘em to text us when they spot an ad. The keywords and short codes are on each ad. When someone texts us, we’ll send them a promo code good for a discounted $25 sign-up. And if they name a current I-GO member as a reference on their application, we’ll add $20 in free driving to your account!
Need to book an I-GO car today? Now you can get literal about it: Random House Audio has partnered with I-GO to convert smart drivers to even smarter audiobook listeners.
Call it the latest chapter in I-GO’s epic quest to make car sharing part of our collective culture.
By visiting www.randomhouseaudio.com/carshare, I-GO members can download free full-length recordings from popular authors like David Rakoff, Tami Hoag, Luanne Rice, Rick Riordan and Kate DiCamillo, and receive 15% off their entire purchase.
Additionally, I-GO fleet vehicles will be soon be stocked with mix CDs of audiobook clips from bestselling titles — a sure way to make any drive more entertaining.
To kick off this special partnership, Random House author Elizabeth Berg (The Last Time I Saw You) will speak at the Barnes & Noble (DePaul), 1 E. Jackson Blvd. on April 28.
Accessible from anywhere, easy to take on the go, and as simple as downloading a song, audiobooks are the perfect companion for any multi-tasker with busy hands and an idle mind. Since many audiobook users listen while in the car, Random House and I-GO are offering I-GO members the chance to take audiobooks for a test drive.
In addition to I-GO, car-sharing providers in eight other cities across the country are participating in the program, including organizations in San Francisco, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Boulder, Denver, Buffalo, Ithaca, NY and Burlington, VT.
The Random House Audio Publishing Group is the preeminent audio publisher working in the industry today, publishing more than 300 titles a year from bestselling authors like Dan Brown, John Grisham, Stieg Larsson, Sue Grafton, Sophie Kinsella, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Rick Riordan and Christopher Paolini in both CD and digital formats. Random House Audio is dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Its audiobooks have won 11 Grammy® Awards and 34 Audie® Awards.
Turn your next trip in an I-GO car into a page-turner you won’t want to put down.
Mindful Metropolis (formerly Conscious Choice) is one of our fave local magazines. It covers environmental issues, health & wellness, and a whole lot more.
So we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves a nominee in its first-ever Reader’s Choice Awards.
They’re asking readers to vote for people, businesses, organizations, and communities that deserve recognition for the way they incorporate mindful practices. Is I-GO “mindful”? We think so. The environmental core of our mission speaks for itself.
Accoring to the contest parameters: “These practices may include any or all of the following: use of green products, use of sustainable materials, recycling initiatives, holistic healing, fostering of community, kindness and compassion. These businesses and organizations make a difference in the lives of their clients, patrons and community by making sure every facet is mindful.”
Are we above currying favor with our members to get the vote out? Don’t mind if we do.
We have great news! The combined Chicago Card Plus/I-GO Card will be available to all I-GO members beginning April 1, 2010. This applies only to members who joined I-GO prior to this program’s pilot phase launch in January 2009.
I-GO and the Chicago Transit Authority created the Chicago Card Plus/I-GO Card — which provides easy access to I-GO cars and CTA trains and buses, as well as suburban Pace buses — to combine the convenience, affordability, and environmental benefits of car sharing and public transit in one handy smart card.
(Please note that there will be a one-time $15 charge on your monthly invoice to cover the cost of your new card. You could more than offset this charge by referring a new member to I-GO. For every approved applicant who names you on their application form, we’ll add $20 in free driving to your I-GO account.)
That’s all there is to it! To all our members who were not able to apply for the card during its first-year pilot program phase: We’ve appreciated your patience while we put the finishing touches on this fantastic program and, of course, your ongoing support as an I-GO member.
Big-time congrats to our esteemed colleagues at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (I-GO’s proud parent org) on the massive update of its inspired Housing + Transportation Affordability Index. We’re talking data on 337 metro areas. We’re impressed. And so is the media, including the Washington Post, which ran this article on the project today.
The index — which you can check out on this website set up by CNT — now covers 337 metro areas in the U.S., with expanded and improved data. Their analysis shows that only two in five American communities — or 39 percent — are affordable for typical households when transportation costs are considered along with housing costs.
It’s a huge effort that takes into account 161,000 neighborhoods and 80 percent of the U.S. population. It provides the only comprehensive snapshot of neighborhood affordability by taking into account the transportation costs associated with neighborhood location and design.
Interesting how MP3 players with aux plugs may have put an end to the era of the pimped-out car stereo. Never really thought about it before. This blogger on BNET did.
Did you know?: Tons of I-GO cars have aux inputs. You can search for them under Amenities in our online reservation system. And remember, if you’ve got a web browser on your phone, you can use it to access I-GO’s mobile reservations site.
With all the intense skirmishing over healthcare, have Americans taken their eye off the ball that will really count in the long run? How many Americans are aware that, slowly but surely, China is commandeering the emerging clean-energy industry and siphoning away leading U.S. tech firms?
A few successes with entrepreneurial start-ups in test markets in this country, and stimulus funds for high-speed rail, EVs, alternative fuel research, and energy grid infrastructure look paltry compared to companies like Applied Materials betting most of its chips on China. (Pictured above: Applied Materials’ research lab in Xi’an, China, from an article in today’s New York Times.) By the time the American public wake up to this reality, will we be out of the game, watching from the sidelines? Or can we emerge as the tortoise to China’s hare in the end?
Yes, it’s hard to think about spending green on green when so many of us are struggling to get by these days in the U.S., but China thinks it’s key to future economic power. And if they’re right, will this make our current national debt obligations look like a dim sum when green tech fully blossoms? Isn’t it time we stopped yelling at each other and work together to put America back on track on the global stage? Doesn’t that go beyond political division?
At I-GO and at CNT, our parent org, that’s what we’re focused on: growing our sustainable initiatives in the U.S. while providing better, affordable, greener options for everybody.
The band Chicago once existentially opined, “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”
Actually, lots do. In these challenging times, every second counts for getting this country back on track.
In a recent survey by Real Simple, the magazine’s editors ranked the top time-saving cities getting around, health & safety, information & technology, green time-savers, and lifestyle. Chicago gets its due at No. 14. But we think the editors missed the boat on car sharing, which definitely deserved a mention (in our humble estimation).
Think organic food can’t be diverse and tasty? That a sustainable micro farm is a miniaturized version of agriculture? That CSA is a shadowy government agency? That “artisanal” just means arts and crafts? Then you need to get over to the fantastic FamilyFarmed EXPO, running Thurs to Sat, March 11 to 13, at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Celeb chef demos, urban agriculture workshops, CSA sign-ups with local and regional farms. It all goes down easy in our book.
Check out this video promo they created for the 2010 expo:
This is the fifth installment of Oak Park-based FamilyFarmed.org’s annual foodie fest. And it just keeps growing and getting better every year. FamilyFarmed.org’s mission is to “expand the production, marketing and distribution of locally grown and responsibly produced food, in order to enhance the social, economic and environmental health of our communities.”
Local. Green. Sustainable. Healthy. May as well be describing I-GO. Which is why we’ll be at the event on Sat, March 13, from 10am to 6pm, dishing out discount I-GO memberships at $25 a pop. Now that’s deliciously wholesome.
And we’ll sweeten the deal even more: Print out this two-for-one admission coupon and bring a pal:
I-GO donned the green (even more than our usual eco self) in Forest Park’s annual St. Paddy’s Day parade this past Saturday, March 6, piloting a pimped-out Paddy wagon (er, Prius) down Madison Street. The parade is one of the bigger suburban St. Pat’s shindigs, and our Prius is located in the village, thanks to I-GO’s suburban expansion initiative, launched in 2009.
In case you missed it, here’s I-GO’s March newsletter. Lots of fun stuff in this issue: how we’ll be getting greener than usual for St. Pat’s, how to set up text alerts for your reservations, and more.
His proposal was recently greenlighted by the CTA — as reported in Time Out Chicago this week — though Baldwin still faces a long haul, and potentially as many delays as current CTA service, to secure funding and insurance and retool the original design as a greenhouse structure, in order to prevent dislodged debris from causing any problems. Makes sense to us. Only cartoon characters should get thumped on the head with plummeting potted plants.
The other part of the plan — now scheduled for a 2011 launch — was to distribute plants to commuters at various rail stations. Joe told us earlier it would work as a “Bring a Plant to Work Day” sort of deal, but this has apparently changed to CTA workers passing out seed packets aboard the designated Mobile Garden train. Joe has managed to secure the packet donation from a Wisconsin CSA.
What he really needs, though, is seed money. If you’re interested in helping Joe cultivate his dream — sown as a school project and now getting signaled onto a different sort of Green Line — you can pitch in at www.giveforward.org/makeitreal.
Our colleagues at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (I-GO’s parent org) recently blogged on how the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s TIGER program (the acronym stands for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) is impacting the Chicago area through the various CREATE projects (Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency). USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood announced last week that — under the aegis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the feds are keepin’ it rail.
That sits well with us at I-GO. Along with CNT, we’ve been advocating for multi-modal sustainable transportation that moves folks and freight while causing the least amount of damage to the environment. In Chicago — which owes its very origins to waterway and rail infrastructure — investing in rail to create jobs and rebuild our communities shows refreshing foresight.
CNT has been at the forefront of tying transportation to housing and business development. I-GO, for its part, works with the CTA to offer a joint transit smartcard that allows users to access both our cars and CTA trains and buses (and suburban Pace buses, too, for that matter).
A very big thanks to Columbia College, Neale, and videographer Trevis Loosbrock for reaching out to us — and for fighting the good fight. Keep it green, guys.
“Essential Chicago” sounds like the worst idea possible for a fragrance that captures the essence of the Windy City. Lucky for us it’s just the cover story feature in this week’s issue of Time Out Chicago. This time around, the mag’s annual feature targets “The New Essentials.”
Take a wild guess which car sharing company they consider essential. Man, we smell good!
Big congrats to Chicago’s own Jeanne Gang and her Studio Gang architecture firm for winning the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper Award global competition! Wow. What a shooting star. And she deserves it — the Aqua tower, located at 225 N. Columbus Dr. in the Lakeshore East development, is a kinetic, organic revelation.
Did we mention that I-GO has a 2010 Suburu Legacy (vehicle #4606) at the Aqua? Besides its swirling, undulating physique, the Aqua is a green building from its green roof (pending come spring, we hear) to the dedicated charging stations in its parking garage. We plan to add a a plug-in hybrid electric car (or two) there this year, in addition to the Legacy, a luxe ride that boasts excellent fuel efficiency in its class.
An I-GO plug-in Prius served as the spotlit demo vehicle for a press conference with Mayor Daley when Magellan, the Aqua’s developer, debuted the charging station technology.
Yes, it’s that time once again, when the annual gearhead juggernaut known as the Chicago Auto Show parks its latest toys at McCormick Place. We checked it out last night. General impression? Despite all the current buzz about green tech, it was pretty much business as usual. Lots of moderate to low fuel-efficient models. Utilitarian ho-hum design. Slick brochures, slicker salesman, and eye-candy models trying to give the status quo a sugar buzz. If this is any indication of middle America’s attitude toward green mobility, seems we’ve got our work cut out for us in playing matchmaker between the mainstream and EVs.
Unlike Detroit’s sprawling “Electric Avenue,” there’s no concentrated effort here to spotlight electric vehicles as the bright, hopeful future of a reenergized auto industry, the cornerstone of a domestic economy built on clean, green tech, and a remedy to curbing our carbon footprint.
Hyundai’s Blue-Will, the automaker’s first plug-in, looks pretty James Bond 2.0 and can run solely on its lithium polymer battery for a range up to 40 miles. The FT-CH takes the Prius notion a step further for youthful urbanites who grew up on a steady diet of video gaming and anime and are more willing to spend less on a smaller, even more fuel-efficient set of wheels. We’re assuming they won’t all be so in-your-face Kermit-the-frog green, but hey, if you want to be a mobile advertisement for environmental progress, we’ll honk when we see you rolling down Michigan Ave.
Good impartial article in the New York Times over the weekend assessing the first cautious steps toward mainstream adoption of electric vehicle technology in the U.S. We’ve all been talking about the design and pricing challenges of the vehicle tech (mainly the batteries), but the bigger picture encompasses so much more if this is going to work. And San Francisco is certainly in the vanguard on this one. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Bay Area, that’s for sure.
Did we mention I-GO has two plug-in hybrid electric cars? We’re planning to add a whole lot more in the months to come, too.
You may be wondering how Toyota’s highly publicized recalls affect us. Only six I-GO cars were included in two recalls: four Toyota Matrix hatchbacks, which were immediately serviced for accelerator pedal repairs and returned to our fleet, and two 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid hatchbacks, which we removed from service as soon as Toyota issued a safety recall to address possible brake problems. They are being repaired and will be returned to to our fleet today. The safety of our members is I-GO’s number-one responsibility. Our fleet management staff monitors every car in our fleet 365 days a year — not just those involved in recalls — and I-GO takes maintenance and safety concerns very seriously. We will continue to notify members with any future updates on how Toyota’s recalls impact our service.
Are you a fan of the House Theatre, purveyors of pop-culture-infused, kinetic, comic-book stage craft? Does upscale Irish cuisine at Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro sound like the perfect cold-weather comfort food? Rack up the most member referrals in February and win our appetizing dinner-and-a-show package pairing two tickets to the House’s new production, Wilson Wants It All, and a $50 gift certificate for Emerald Isle comfort food in Mrs. Murphy’s cozy, elegant confines.
It’s been tucked away on our website for a long time — and many of our members may not be aware of it — but Chi-Town Rewards just got a whole lot better.
Chi-Town Rewards is a cross-promotional program that entitles I-GO members to discounts at a wide variety of businesses operating in the Chicagoland area. To redeem an offer, members simply show their I-GO smart cards (or, in the instance of online-only businesses, their member ID number). The participating businesses range from restaurants to fitness providers to gift shops to environmental services — and a whole lot more. Lots of them will have a Chi-Town Rewards decal we provide (pictured above) which is displayed in their businesses to indicate they participate in the program.
We’ve just redesigned this section of our website to make it much easier to sift through the offers and find out more about the businesses.
Now you can search by location or business type, and the resulting posts include short descriptions and photos of the business, website links and other contact info, and, of course, the discount offer. The posts can also be printed out separately in a new window by clicking on the business title. That way, the print-out also functions as a coupon the member can take to the business, along with their smart card, to redeem the offer.
It gets better:
We’ve also initiated a new “Deal of the Month” featured item in this section. It will appear in the left column of the Chi-Town Rewards page. These are special offers or contests that go beyond the standard day-to-day discounts. So we encourage you to check this page regularly for updated Deals of the Month.
And we now have a simple web application form that business owners or managers can fill out to join the program. All you have to do is make an offer you think our members would appreciate. Pretty simple. But we’re also looking to collaborate with businesses in other ways, too, so if you’d like to suggest an event we can pitch in at, or some sort of web promotion, hey, we’re all ears. By all means, give us a shout.
So check it out, I-GO members. It’s just one more way we’re helping you save bucks. (No small consideration in this brutal economy.) Dig in!
“According to a new study by the American Public Transportation Association (which, yes, has an interest in the results), the average public transportation rider can save $9,242 a year by ditching a car.”
The post includes APTA’s news release on how the stats were deduced. And you can check out their online calculator to ascertain how much you’d save personally.
Chicago fares well in the rankings among cities: We’re fourth in savings at averages of $946 monthly and $11,357 annually. New York, Boston, and San Francisco are ranked first, second, and third.
Blanco adds:
“A car-sharing option was not included in the APTA model, but it’s easy enough to see that going by bus and rail most days and using the savings to rent a car when needed certainly puts one ahead financially, if public transit is a viable option.”
That option certainly extends to I-GO, which offers a joint transit smart card with the CTA. We estimate that members who’ve sold a car or shed one in switching to car sharing can save as much as $5,000 a year in reduced transportation expenses.
And in this economy, those savings can mean quite a lot for many of us.
Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Star-Tribune gives some love this week to HOURCAR, our fellow regional non-profit car-sharing pals in the Twin Cities.
HOURCAR is a more modestly scaled endeavor than I-GO, but they’ve quietly been making steady progress in introducing Minnesotans to car sharing. And we share a lot in common with them. HOURCAR was launched by the St. Paul non-profit org Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC), which pursues many of the same aims as CNT Energy, a division of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), the non-profit which launched I-GO in 2002. Both help consumers obtain information and services they need to control energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint.
And if you’re an I-GO member traveling to the Twin Cities, you can join HOURCAR for free!
And then there’s CUB Energy Saver, a multi-pronged initiative of the Illinois non-profit Citizens Utility Board that helps local residents save money on bills, manage energy use, and team up with friends and neighbors to make their communities more energy-efficient. The CUB Energy Saver site is a pretty cool social-media-styled online app that lets you configure and monitor your energy use, join groups, write blog posts, get updates on events, and more. It’s very well designed, we must say. Kudos to CUB on this one. We encourage you to check it out for yourself. When you sign up (for free), they’ll even send you a free compact fluorescent light bulb.
I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon represented I-GO Car Sharing at the Transportation Research Board’s 89th annual meeting this week in Washington, D.C. The event surveys all transportation modes, with more than 3,000 presentations in nearly 600 sessions addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions.
On Wednesday, Jan. 13, Sharon cochaired the Shared Vehicle Committee. She also emailed us this link to a Megan McConville post on TheCityFix.com, an online resource for sustainable transport news, advocacy and “best practice” solutions from around the world. The blog is produced by EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, a non-profit organization that works with cities in the developing world to catalyze and help implement sustainable solutions to problems of urban mobility.
McConville reports on a session about car sharing and bike sharing. Among the more interesting highlights:
An estimated 9 to 13 vehicles are removed from the road for each car sharing vehicle deployed.
Connectivity to public transit, the age of the transit station, and the average employment rate had a positive impact on car-sharing market share.
There are 100 bike-sharing programs in 125 cities with more than 140,000 bikes, with another 45 planned in 22 countries in 2010. (Pictured at right: Washington D.C.’s SmartBike DC bike-share program.)
The next stage for bike sharing involves flexible/mobile docking stations, smart card integration with other transportation modes, and advanced technologies including GPS, touchscreen kiosks, and e-bikes.
We’d love to see that sort of high-tech integration in Chicago. I-GO, for its part, already has a joint smart card with the CTA, enabling access to both our fleet of cars and CTA buses and trains. But we hope that’s just the start of even more exciting multi-modal systems to come.
Like to eat well? Have we got an incentive for you.
I-GO will award two gift certificates — for savory, veg-a-licious edibles (like the shiitake-stuffed pot stickers pictured at right) at Evanton’s estimable Blind Faith Café and from truffle and caramel specialist Katherine Anne Confections — to the I-GO member who racks up the most referrals this month.
All you have to do is tell your friends, family, and colleagues to join I-GO. For every approved applicant who names you as the referring member on their application form, we’ll add $20 in free driving credit to your account, and if you have the highest tally from now through January 31 you’ll also be the proud, appetite-stoked recipient of a $25 gift certificate for Blind Faith Café and a $30 gift certificate for Katherine Anne Confections.
This is just the start of a monthly contest campaign we’re launching this month. Every month we’ll be giving out prizes from local businesses, so be sure to check our blog and Facebook page for new contests.
This week, our fleet team will be moving vehicles into the following locations:
CHICAGO
1809 E. 71st St.: 2006 silver Scion xB, vehicle #4479
1313 E. 60th St.: 2007 blue Toyota Prius, vehicle #4563
5500 S. Greenwood St.: 2009 gray Honda Fit, vehicle #4588
3201 S. State St.: 2008 red Honda Element, vehicle #4560
800 S. Clark St.: 2009 gray Honda CR-V, vehicle #4604
929 N. Wells St.: 2009 silver Honda CR-V, vehicle #4442
2825 N. Halsted St.: 2007 orange Honda Fit, vehicle #4518
7531 N. Clark St., 2009 silver Honda Odyssey, vehicle #4440
EVANSTON
504 South Blvd.: 2006 red Scion xB, vehicle #4485
Members will be able to search for these vehicles after logging into our reservation system. They will also be added to the map on our Car Locations page.
At our recent holiday party — attended by nearly 500 car-sharing fans — we asked I-GO members why they use our service and what they like most about it. We also took the opportunity to announce some impressive statistics on how much money our members saved and how many metric tons of CO2 they helped reduce this past year. We can all be quite proud of our shrinking carbon footprint.
We’re getting some fun responses to our current Facebook contest: Write the best holiday song parody about I-GO and win $30 in free driving credits.
Stephanie Kollman submitted this catchy, little ditty:
“It’s beginning to look a lot like I-GO
Everywhere I go!
There’s a car near Aunt Bea’s hotel,
At the grocery store as well,
Drive Grandma around and she won’t mind the snow!…
It’s beginning to look a lot like I-GO!
Soon the fun will start,
And the thing that will make you sing
Is the wind that will not sting
Yet you do your part!”
Awww. So cute. Care to try it yourself? If you’re not already a fan of our Facebook page, join the club and give us your best Johnny Mathis impersonation. Those 30 bucks of free driving in an I-GO car sure beat a one-horse open sleigh when it’s this cold outside, that’s for sure.
Nobody out there needs to be told times are tough. And while that’s hardly the marketing slogan of the year, we can say this unequivocally: car sharing saves bucks. Big time. Some folks report saving up to four or five thou a year after selling a car and switching to car sharing and public transit. (Good thing we offer a combo smart card with the CTA.)
Most of us are also hacking our holiday shopping budgets to bits this season. (Sorry, retailers, we feel your pain.) But giving someone an I-GO membership really is that gift that keeps on giving. And, hey, that gift recipient may as well be yourself, too. Treat yourself. You deserve it.
With all this in mind, we’re offering a special holiday discount: Join I-GO for just $25 (covers the first year of membership) and get three free hours of driving. Just use the promo code HOLIDAY2009 on the application form. And we’re also giving $25 in driving credits to every member who refers a new, approved applicant. We also offer gift certificates.
This month we are in the process of adding I-PASS transponders to lots of I-GO cars. All suburban vehicles will be equipped with I-PASS transponders, and our fleet team has carefully selected vehicles across Chicago to ensure at least one vehicle in each neighborhood is similarly equipped.
To find the cars with I-PASS in our fleet, members can search for them in the Amenities section of our online reservation system after logging in. We have placed a bright orange sticker in each I-PASS-equipped vehicle, notifying members not to use their own I-PASS or pay the tolls themselves.
The I-PASS charges will be added to the member’s invoice at the end of the month. It’s a great deal for all: using our I-PASS is significantly cheaper than paying tolls with cash. No vehicle registered with the Illinois Tollway will receive a violation, so you can enjoy open road tolling with peace of mind.
I-GO threw a holiday bash for its members and their guests Thurs., Dec. 3, at the Merchandise Mart. Perched on the 15th floor, in a sleek space with a dramatic, panoramic view of the Chicago River below, the merrymakers—at least 500 by our count—got their fill of holiday cheer, I-GO style.
A sumptious buffet was provided by an eclectic variety of local culinary faves, including Soul Vegetarian East, Hannah’s Bretzel, Bistro Campagne, Fruit Flowers, Raw Creations, Provenance Food & Wine, and Piece Brewery & Pizzeria. Lucky winners also scooped up fab raffle prizes furnished by Patagonia, the Joffrey Ballet, Lookingglass Theatre, Random House Audio, and Salon Moka.
I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon spoke about the organization’s past year of accomplishments and gave a preview of highlights to come in 2010—most tantalizingly: making the Chicago Card Plus/I-GO Card available to I-GO’s entire membership. The joint smartcard was a pilot program created by the CTA and I-GO in early 2009.
I-GO presented its Volunteers of the Year Award to Taica Shariee and Carl Westburg, who helped us spread the word on I-GO and car sharing at numerous community events in 2009. Thank you, Taica and Carl!
Guests left with gift bags made from recycled material provided by Green Depot. Many continued their night by browsing at the Merchandise Mart’s One of a Kind Show & Sale, courtesy of free passes provided by the Mart.
Thanks to all who came and made the night such a success!
SkokieNet.org, a great community website run by the Skokie Public Library, just created a fantastic video on I-GO Car Sharing coming to Skokie. Frances Roehm, a triple-threat librarian who edits the site and helped shoot the video, worked with 16-year-old videographer whiz kid Erica Mui, who shot footage, edited it, and served as on-camera interviewer. Check out the carefully composed shots, fades, and soundtrack. Hard to believe this was edited by a high schooler. Impressive, Erica! Look out, Sofia Coppola.
I-GO uses two village-donated spaces in a parking lot behind Memorial Park at Oakton Street and Lincoln Avenue. They’re near the library and Skokie Village Hall.
Illinois Fifth District Congressman Mike Quigley’s Chicago office now has an I-GO business member account. It makes sense when you check out the local pol’s environment and energy policy statement on his website, which talks about combating carbon emissions and promoting renewable energy. Car sharing, of course, fits well within that agenda.
We contacted his office to find out why he decided to go with I-GO. Here’s what Congressman Quigley had to say:
“Protecting the environment was the reason I first got involved in politics. I’m a lifelong Sierra Club member, taught environmental policy at Loyola University, and I ride my bike to meetings all over Washington—including the White House. Developing renewable energy, improving green technologies, and reducing carbon emissions are at the heart of both my legislative agenda and personal beliefs. Taking public transit and enrolling our office in a car-sharing program like I-GO that features hybrid vehicles are ways for me to practice what I preach and continue to do whatever I can to help preserve our planet.”—Congressman Mike Quigley
Curious to learn how an I-GO business account can help your organization save money and the environment? Read more here ››.
Earlier this week we emailed our holiday party invite to I-GO members. We’ll send it out again in a few days, with some additional details. But if you didn’t see it yet, and would like to attend our annual bash, we’ve posted the invitation on our site. Check it out, and then just email us at greenparty@igocars.org with the names of those attending and their email addresses (so we can contact everyone with any updates or reminders).
It’s gonna be a great one this year. Merchandise Mart Properties has generously provided us with a killer space, and several other business supporters are pitching in with food and drink, prizes, and more. We’ll be updating folks as the attractions expand! The one thing that won’t expand: your waistline. We’re dishing up healthy holiday fare with organic flair. Mmmm. Now that’s a green holiday party.
Cecil Adams gives Reader fans the lowdown on car sharing, how it works, and how members contribute to the program in the Straight Dope, the Reader’s venerable, plucky column. Looks good to us. Thanks for spreading the word, Cecil!
CMAP is asking residents of Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, McHenry, Lake, and Kendall counties to pull out their cameras and capture what they value about the region. CMAP’s “2009 Images of Northeastern Illinois Photo Contest” runs through the end of November.
Two winners (a first prize and runner-up) will be selected in each of the following categories, along with one overall contest winner and runner-up:
Diversity (people, places, art, culture, food)
Community Vitality (walkable, vibrant places; retail; neighborhood pride)
Awards will include prizes donated by local businesses and a showcase of the winners’ photos at a location to be announced. Submissions to the contest may also be featured on CMAP’s web site and in print publications (with prior consent only).
More details and full contest rules are posted online. You can also contact Lindsay Banks with questions: (312) 386-8826 or email photo@cmap.illinois.gov.
Need inspiration? Take a peek at some pix shot by previous winners, like Tom Rand’s stark depiction of Calumet Beach in winter:
Enjoy parties? Making new, likeminded friends? Networking in a sleek setting that swaps seminars for DJ beats, festive libations, and raffle prizes? Then SAVE THE DATE: I-GO is throwing a holiday party for members and their friends Thursday evening, December 3, at the Merchandise Mart. (Just wait until you see the view from our sweet digs.) Admission? Gratis. Bonus prize: It takes place in conjunction with the Mart’s “One of a Kind Show and Sale,” easily one of Chicago’s best holiday shopping bazaars, featuring unique gifts from more than 500 artists, artisans, and designers. And if you come to the party, you get into the show for free. Can’t beat that one with a candy cane. Stayed tuned for future posts with more details and RSVP info.
On October 24, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At more than 5,200 events—organized by 350.org, an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—people gathered to call for action on the crisis.
I-GO took part in one, Oak Park’s “Halfway to Earth Day” event at 833 S. Euclid, where we just added two cars: a Honda Civic and a new 2010 Honda Insight hybrid.
The hybrid car was a fitting backdrop visual for participants, which included students from Oak Park & River Forest High School, Village President David Pope, and State Senator Don Harmon.
I-GO participates in green events year-round. Check our upcoming events calendar to find out where we’ll be next.
Must be something in the air. We’re revamping our site, and just noticed that so, too, has Metra. If you were familiar with their old one, man, are you gonna love Metra’s new, improved version. Sooo much better.
You may have noticed our web site looks a lot different today. That’s because we’ve spent a lot of time reorganizing it, editing and updating content, and tweaking the design a bit here and there. We’re not done with it just yet, but we think it’s an improvment, and we hope our members and visitors to our site agree.
The member log-in is now located in the upper right corner of every page on the site, including, of course, the home page.
The News page on the site now features our blog, media coverage, and various social media interaction (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Vimeo). We’ve also add a new business membership online application program that lets companies and their employees sign up directly on our site. (Formerly, this was a person-to-person offline process.)
The Discount Cars program is a real bargain: $1 off an array of cars we designate at the beginning of every month. Car sharing is all about saving you money, and we hope this benefits your bank account even more.
Hope that you like the site’s new look, and it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.
Big thanks to Chicago’s Mid City Suburu for generously providing I-GO with a beautiful, new, 2010 Suburu Legacy mid-size sedan. Great to see them supporting car sharing in Chicago. Car was dropped off at our office last week and will be located at Lakeshore East’s awesome Aqua tower, 225 N. Columbus Dr. Need to show a business client around town? Got a date to impress? This’ll do.
We will be continuing with our suburban expansion by adding two cars in Des Plaines in November. A Toyota Prius hybrid and Honda Insight hybrid will be going into City Parking Lot 9 on the south side of Miner Street, between Lee and Graceland Streets.
Our 13,000-plus members have 24/7 access to more than 200 hybrid and low-emission vehicles in Chicago, Oak Park, Evanston, Skokie, Forest Park, and now Des Plaines as well.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, I-GO Car Sharing was prominently featured in a high-profile press conference and exhibition hosted by Magellan Development Group at its new, high-profile Aqua tower in Chicago’s Lakeshore East community. The Aqua, an 82-story mixed-use structure designed by architect Jeanne Gang with many environmentally beneficial elements, includes the Midwest’s first electric vehicle charging station open to the public.
Mayor Richard Daley participated in the charging station demonstration of a plug-in electric Prius provided by I-GO. The new station adds to the progressive efforts of newly created Carbon Day Automotives, a Chicago firm employing the Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network of electric charging stations. A new infrastructure for electric electric vehicles is being created to deal with the fact that virtually every auto manufacturer has announced plans to produce plug-in vehicles in the next one to three years in response to concerns over high gas prices, oil dependence, and the impact of climate change on the environment.
The six-charger station at Aqua will accommodate up to 24 plug-in vehicles. To access it, and others in the ChargePoint/Carbon Day Automotive network, drivers of plug-in vehicles will be required to subscribe to a plan that will provide convenient and affordable access to all public charging stations.
All plug-in stations are connected by computer network to provide drivers with best access to outlets. Drivers can access locations based on the navigation system in their vehicles, computers, telephones, or smartphones. The system no only identifies the closest stations but tells subscribers which are idle and which are occupied.
The event was significant for another reason as well. It provides an impressive prototype for the kind of sustainable-energy infrastructure Chicago will be building with funds awarded via the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Clean Cities Petroleum Reduction Technologies grant program. Recently, Mayor Daley announced, Chicago was the recipient of $15 million in stimulus funding allocated toward this purpose. I-GO is among the partners committed to transforming Chicago’s sustainable transportation, along with ComEd, Carbon Day, Magellan, the City of Chicago’s Department of the Environment, and Yellow Cab, all of whom also took part in the Aqua event.
I-GO has two plug-in electric vehicles in its metro-wide fleet, which is entirely comprised of highly fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles. Hybrid gas-electric vehicles account for nearly half of the organization’s fleet. The non-profit plans to add many more plug-ins in the near future and work in tandem with the imminent solar-panel-powered electric charging station network to help lead the way toward greener mobility in the Chicago area.
This video includes both the press conference proceedings as well as interviews with I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon and Carbon Day Automotive’s business development manager, Brian Levin, recorded earlier at the latter org’s Carbon Day Festival in Lincoln Park on Sept. 15.
Uptown I-GOers will dig this: We recently added a Honda CR-V compact SUV at the Bridgeview Bank location, 4753 N. Broadway, next to the Prius and Civic already there. Once that new Target opens down the street, you can really go nuts loading up this baby. Book it now while it’s still got that new-car smell.
Tanya Killian, the dynamic entrepreneur behind the local green-friendly cleaning service I-GO uses, was featured on Chicago Tonight yesterday in a segment on microcredit loans. Killian’s company, WashMe-EnviGreen, handles our entire fleet. I-GO makes a cameo appearance. If microcredit can help such hard-working, passionate folks like Tanya, we think it’s a concept worth extending and building upon.
Curious to hear how the I-GO Car Sharing braintrust views car sharing? The Great Lakes Urban Exchange—an org dedicated to the revitalization of the Great Lakes region through positive social change and environmental progress—recently interviewed I-GO’s CEO Sharon Feigon and included the discussion as a podcast in a blog post.
Sharon talks about the impetus for I-GO, its mission to reduce car ownership and greenhouse gas emissions, partner on sustainable transportation for the benefit of all communities, and much more.
You won’t find a Beemer in I-GO’s fleet. But you will find a bona fide, earnest desire to improve our world for the better.
Cara Dillon is a honey-toned folk singer from Ireland who’s just one of many great acts playing this year’s World Music Festival. The fest gigs happen all over Chicago from today through next Thursday. Dillon’s on the bill tomorrow with Kusun Ensemble from Ghana and our hometown’s own Chicago Afrobeat Project at the Edgewater GRalley, a cool new event that takes place in and around the alleys off Granville in the Edgewater ‘hood. I-GO will be getting folks to tune into car sharing by offering $25 membership sign-ups at the event. We hope saving big bucks on car expenses is music to your ears, though it’ll be tough competing with these dulcet pipes from the Emerald Isle.
We love all press coverage, but most articles and posts on I-GO don’t go the distance.
This one does. It really does a nice job hitting on all aspects of our org, from the member benefits to our green tech initiatives.
Blue Planet Green Living is an interesting green-biz site worth checking out. Excerpted from their bio page:
We’re on a quest to find organic, green, and natural products as well as services that support a healthy environment. As BPGL grows, we’ll be building a road map to guide you through the maze of websites and introduce you to earth-friendly businesses and people that we believe in. Our focus is helping what we call ecopreneurs, the folks who launch start-up companies that are focused on helping the planet. We also like to showcase the undiscovered (or little-known) individuals or families who are trying to help in their own unique ways. But, big or small, we’ll lend our support to anyone who is working to sustain the earth, keeping it blue and green (and every lovely color in between), just like it’s supposed to be.
While most of us are happy to have the day off for Labor Day, it’s a bit bittersweet- seeing as Labor Day signals the end to summer. But don’t fret! Instead, grab an I-GO car and jet off to one of the Chicago Tribune’s many ideas for Labor Day fun:
African Festival of the Arts:Experience African and African-American culture through music, fine arts and cuisine at this annual festival. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. in Washington Park, 51st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. $10-$15, $5 for seniors and children younger than 12; 773-955-2787, africanfestivalchicago.org
Bike Obama tour:See the sights President Barack Obama frequented in the Chicago area, including his Hyde Park neighborhood. The two-hour, 6-mile bike tour begins at 10 a.m. at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. $32, $18 for children younger than 12 (bike and helmet available). An extended Stimulus Package tour is 22 miles in four hours (departs at 9 a.m., $43) and includes the Museum Campus and Grant Park. A 10 percent discount is offered for online reservations, R.S.V.P. required; 312-915-0995, bobbysbikehike.com
Summer Tropical Flower Show:Maybe your garden didn’t turn out as planned (rain is good, no?), but this display of tropical plants, including begonias and hibiscus, should brighten your day. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton Drive. Free; 312-742-7736; and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave. Free; 312-746-5100
Dinosaurs Alive!:A display of animatronic dinosaurs — including a 60-foot-long and 30-foot-high replica of the Ruyang Yellow River dinosaur — at Brookfield Zoo has got the awesomeness. And there are all the other wonderful animal habitats to check out too. 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. at Brookfield Zoo, 3300 Golf Rd., Brookfield. $17, $11 for seniors and children ages 3-11 (includes regular zoo admission), $8 for parking; 708-485-0263, czs.org
The Last Fling:Here’s how to send summer off with a bang: a spaghetti-eating contest, Big Wheel races, car show, parade and more. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Naperville Riverwalk, 100 W. Jackson Ave., Naperville. Free (main stage free Monday); 630-961-4143, lastfling.org
Bristol Renaissance Faire:It’s the last chance to get all medieval, as Bristol closes its season with a juggling/comedy/fire show, street theater and more. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Bristol Renaissance Faire, 12550 120th Ave., Kenosha, Wis. $16.95, $7.50 for children 5-12, children younger than 5 free; 847-395-7773, renfair.com
Arlington Park:A day of thoroughbred racing will include a Pucker Up Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and a Stars and Stripes handicap for older horses. There’s more than racing going on, with The Brave performing on the Miller Lite Band Stage. Gates open at 11:15 a.m. at Arlington Park, 2200 W. Euclid, Arlington Heights. $6-$7 general admission, children younger than 17 free when accompanied by an adult; 847-385-7427, arlingtonpark.com
Chicago Premium Outlets: Kids — according to kids — can never have enough back-to-school clothes. And if you’re looking for outfits for the ones who have grown a size over the summer, already-discounted merchandise at the 120 outlet stores will have additional reductions of 25 percent to 65 percent. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. at Chicago Premium Outlets, 1650 Premium Outlets Blvd., Aurora; 630-585-2200, premiumoutlets.com
If you have a minute to spare after booking your I-GO reservation, you should check out this great website, Chicago Gas Prices. Not only can you find the cheapest spots to refuel around the city, but you also have the chance to win prizes (like $250 in prepaid gas!) if you join in the effort by reporting fuel prices you see while out and about in your I-GO vehicle.
The website also provides other handy tools such as: fuel price maps (both local and national), fuel logbooks, fuel tax info, mobile widgets and more.
Who’s got the cheapest gas in the Chicagoland area today? As of this blog post, that honor belongs to the Sam’s Club in Northlake on 141 W. North Ave & Railroad Ave., offering $2.61 per gallon. As you can see in the local price snapshot below, gas was much more expensive this time last year.
Established in 2002, the Chicago Innovation Awards shine a bright light on the creative spirit of Chicago by focusing attention on the most significant new products and services introduced in the region. The ten winners each year are innovations that uniquely fill unmet needs, spark a competitive response in the marketplace, exceed market expectations, achieve financial success, and improve people’s lives. They emerge from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most importantly, the Chicago Innovation Awards remind is that innovation is thriving in America’s heartland.
There are 75 nominees covering a wide array of innovators—big and small, public and private. Sifting through the list is an eye-opener: It’s encouraging to see how many enterprising innovators are on the cusp of great ideas in Chicago. Eat your tech-nerd heart out, Silicon Valley.
Best of all: You can vote for I-GO to win! Not that we’d twist your arm on the way to the virtual ballot box. But, c’mon, our particular take on car sharing—partnering with mass transit; extending alternative, sustainable transportation to ALL neighborhoods; only using low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles (including dozens of hybrids and two bona fide plug-ins)—is worth a spot atop the podium, eh?
Reserve an I-GO Prius in the last two weeks of August and you could find a pair of free tickets to Chicago’s hit rock ‘n’ roll musical, Million Dollar Quartet, in the glovebox! Or you may discover free cast-recording CDs and other prizes stashed in the dash!
Not only that: They want to start off with thousands of electric cars and a network of charging stations.
Isn’t the sort of bold strategy Chicago ought to be implementing if it wants to demonstrate how green it is to the international Olympic committee? Especially since the city is banking on its environmental initiatives to win the 2016 Summer Games.
That said, the Chicago 2016 committee’s “Blue-Green Games” agenda is still quite laudable—if they can pull it off.
Not taking sides on that bid—there are pros and cons to it in so many ways. Just noting that Paris seems more progressive in this regard at the moment.
According to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan: “The average fuel efficiency of the US vehicle fleet has risen by just 3 miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T, and has barely shifted at all since 1991.”
At least we stopped wearing bowler hats and bustles, though.
I-GO Car Sharing recently got two nice shoutouts on blogs. Here’s one from a member who’s intent on living a car-free life (with us as the exception). And we’re also mentioned in a post on car sharing on Allstate Insurance’s blog Vehicle Vibes.
I-GO just added four brand-new Honda Insights to the fleet. Pictured here: the Insight at 2350 N. Racine (at Fullerton). Took it out for a bit today. Really nice ride. Sooo clean. (Let’s keep it that way!) Liked the “Eco Assist” button function, which lets you tweak the electric-to-gas ratio even more. This car sits next to a Prius and guess what? I couldn’t tell the diff until I got within five feet.
Cash for Clunkers addendum: the Dept of Transportation estimates an average increased fuel efficiency of 15.8mpg to 25.4mpg so far. See sidebar figures in today’s NY Times coverage. Forget about the funding debate for a sec. How about “cash for car sharing”?
Or really push the envelope and require folks to buy plug-ins, hybrids and, when feasible, EVs like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt. 25mpg? Meh. It’s anemic compared to the new Prius and InSight, excellent vehicles that double that figure and are already mass produced.
The 
As an environmentally driven nonprofit, I-GO is making plans to add electric vehicles to its fleet. The i MiEV demo is a rare sneak preview of one such EV our members may be driving in the near future. We’d love to hear what you think of it. Your feedback will help us evaluate our EV options.
We’re psyched about the 
The Nissan Versas are located at these addresses:
The Nissan Cubes are located at these addresses:
Big-time congrats to our esteemed colleagues at the 
Interesting how MP3 players with aux plugs may have put an end to the era of the pimped-out car stereo. Never really thought about it before. 
The other part of the plan — now scheduled for a 2011 launch — was to distribute plants to commuters at various rail stations. Joe told us earlier it would work as a “Bring a Plant to Work Day” sort of deal, but this has apparently changed to CTA workers passing out seed packets aboard the designated Mobile Garden train. Joe has managed to secure the packet donation from a Wisconsin CSA.
You may be wondering how Toyota’s highly publicized recalls affect us. Only six I-GO cars were included in two recalls: four Toyota Matrix hatchbacks, which were immediately serviced for accelerator pedal repairs and returned to our fleet, and two 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid hatchbacks, which we removed from service as soon as Toyota issued a safety recall to address possible brake problems. They are being repaired and will be returned to to our fleet today. The safety of our members is I-GO’s number-one responsibility. Our fleet management staff monitors every car in our fleet 365 days a year — not just those involved in recalls — and I-GO takes maintenance and safety concerns very seriously. We will continue to notify members with any future updates on how Toyota’s recalls impact our service.
