Post

Sammy Leaf
@ptbianco.bsky.social

Hmm. Hmm. If only there was a service that let you rent a car per day. You could pick up the car at a lot conveniently located in the city. We could call these services names like Hertz, or Alamo. Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. If only.

Tara
@taraandchicken.bsky.social

That's not what Hourcar and Evie do. It at least is not all they do. Our most common use case was when we left home by bus, and something came up and we needed to get someplace else faster than the bus. Or the other way. Need to get to happy hour fast, but now bussing home, because happy hour.

Elise
@miniapplecat.bsky.social

I’ve done that before and it’s actually very inconvenient. Budget, for example, isn’t open Sunday and closes early Saturday, around noon or 1. So you get 4-5 hours on Sat with the car for a base rate higher than HourCar’s & you have to pay the gas on top as well as insurance add-on, unlike HourCar.

Elise
@miniapplecat.bsky.social

And that’s enough for a Costco run, fine, but going up to a state park for a hike? XC skiing in the winter like I used to do with HourCar? If I wanted to do that with Budget, I’d have to pick the car up Saturday and pay for an entire day and a half (Sunday-Monday morning) I didn’t need it.

Smart Budget Sheets
@smartbudgetsheets.bsky.social

That rental-hours problem is real. Turo might fit trips like that better: you rent from a local owner and the host sets pickup and return times, so a Sunday evening return is often doable, and some hosts deliver. Fingers crossed on the idea of Metro Transit taking over carshare.

Elise
@miniapplecat.bsky.social

Then returning the car on Monday AM was annoying and tiresome to do before work. & I’m lucky in that I can take a bus to the rental pickup/drop-off! Renting during the week - they close at 6 - not enough time to bus from work, rent the car, and do anything useful before returning it that night.

Erik Vorhes
@erikvorhes.bsky.social

Hmm. Hmm. If only there were car rental locations that didn’t require me to take a long bus ride to get to them. If only there were rentals that could be had for less than a whole day, at prorated rates, etc.

Sammy Leaf
@ptbianco.bsky.social

Hmm. Hmm. If only there was a service that let you summon a car with an app on your phone. You could pay per ride. They could be private owners of cars that used the same app to connect with riders. Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. If only.

Pat Thompson
@pattho.bsky.social

The story specifically says that the person uses mass transit and bikes, and explains how HourCar fills/filled the gap when those don't work.

Cultivate Taste Tea
@cultivatetastetea.bsky.social

that makes sense and I was more thinking that mass transit in Minneaplois and St Paul is good in some areas, but I know of some that it wasn't as good. Not sure if that got resolved, but since this person used HourCar for times when mass transit wasn't means most likely not.

Leah
@itsleelee.bsky.social

The bus doesn’t work for everything. I live in Uptown, a very good place for transit, & I mostly bike. My last Hourcar trip was to transport 10 bags of straw from Menards to a garden I volunteer at. That’s not something I’m using the bus or my bike for, nor am I using an Uber. Hourcar was perfect