City Asks Zipcar To The Prom, Totally Blows PhillyCarShare Off
In deciding between which car service to endorse–the for-profit Zipcar or the non-profit PhillyCarShare–the City has basically used the same, tired lines every guy in high school has ever uttered when breaking up with a hot girl:
PhillyCarShare, it’s not that Zipcar is prettier, smarter, or cooler than you. No, seriously, you’re really cool. You’re, like, the coolest car service organization we know. It’s just that Zipcar was…cheaper. So, yeah, we’re gonna take them to the Prom. We can still be friends though, right? No hard feelings? Cool, cool. Well, we guess we’ll see you around then. Um, OK. Bye.
Don’t worry, PhillyCarShare, it’s nothing a good cry, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and a shopping spree at Sephora can’t fix.
Inky: It’s not you, it’s me. Well, actually it’s them and how much cheaper they are than you
Previously: Special Report: Inside Zipcar’s Empty, Expensive, Confusing Bitchslap
June 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Wow, in order to save $5000 per year the city switched off of the non-profit company that was founded here and is headquartered here. Just…wow.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:04 am
hmmm or Nutter has just jumped the shark.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Anna Goldfarb is the funniest person I know!
June 10th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I wonder what John Street would have to say about this. Let’s go ask him — he’s in line at the Apple store, waiting for his 3G iPhone.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
It’s $5K, but it’s also a 14% discount. I might’ve taken the deal too.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:24 am
i think the city was hoping PCS would come back with a counter offer — alas. One can only do so much – fact is, the city (residents) need PCS way more than PCS needs the city government account… PCS will make up that $35k a year quickly with regular customers…
Meanwhile, I saw my first PCS Smart Car this morning … very smart indeed!
June 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
When the city government can’t show a little pride in an awesome local business, it sends a terrible message. Over $5000. Seriously. I’m sure there are bribes floating city hall around that cost the taxpayers more than that.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:39 am
correction: floating around city hall
June 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Please friendlynerd, Drake’s right. We’re talking about 6-10 car in PCS’s fleet now freed up for residents’ use. And the city has $5k they can allocate to something besides transportation expenses. PCS is also a local _nonprofit_, not just a business like Zipcar. I’m pretty sure the city has some regulatory role in granting PCS nonprofit status, which I imagine is worth a bit more than 5 grand, and could even be more valuable than some of the bribes floating around in your sour grapes.
I saw “the” PCS SmartCar a couple of months back, good they’re getting more. Have they spread beyond U-City?
June 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
You have some good points, but for you to say I have some sort of sour grape issue simply because you disagree with me is pretty weak.
I don’t have anything to gain or lose by the city ditching PCS – but I don’t think they should have.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
There’s nothing wrong with it, but your only point is you’re upset, unless you think your conflation of an instance of the city practicing fiscal responsibility with city hall’s corruption legacy (something the new admin is making visible moves to clean up) is somehow a rational, logical position. Maybe the heat makes everything whiny to my ear, but I saw sour grapes over small potatoes, and I just don’t eat that.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
One thing I think everyone’s overlooking: having a Zipcar agreement allows city employees to use the cars in other cities, and potentially saves the City of Philadelphia untold thousands of dollars that would have gone to reimbursing taxi cabs, rental cars, etc.
Plus, Zipcar’s fleet is so much cleaner than skanky ol’ PCS. There’s only so many times you can brush off month-old Cheerios from your driver’s seat before it gets to be too much.