I-GO Car Sharing

Dan Greenblatt, who blogs about design and user experience at Focus + Context, wrote a great post and created a Flickr stream about I-GO from a user experience standpoint, pointing out the success of a “Frankenstein solution” that mixes high-tech, low-tech, and honor system methods to make sharing cars easy and hassle-free.

I think this is an interesting observation Dan made about using the service for the first time:

To be honest, I was pretty nervous the first time I took out a car. There is something inherently nerve-wracking about driving “someone else’s car”

That is interesting. A lot of folks, especially in areas where daily driving is necessary, grew up thinking of their car almost as an extension of their body – sharing one would be pretty weird. This is different – an I-GO car is “someone else’s car,” but it is also yours!

Dan points out another interesting thing about driving with I-GO:

It’s easy to use (as I hope I’ve shown), it’s affordable, and though it sounds kind of twisted, not driving very often actually makes it quite fun (especially if you’re driving a Prius).

I know, dude – it feels like a special trip when driving now, especially when it’s a Prius, with all the Star Trek-looking display systems and everything. Funny as it may seem, you’ll never have more fun driving than when you go carless.

Dan’s bottom line:

Try I-GO.

You heard it from Dan – his post is a good one to forward to skeptical friends and family in the city who may be reluctant to join the car sharing movement – they’ll find much fun and convenience to be had if they do.