By Allie Maupin
Carrboro Commons Writer

Randy Dodd has an idea to help soothe Carrboro citizens’ worries about increasing traffic congestion and rising gas prices: get rid of your car.

Dodd has plans to develop a community program aimed at helping the environment by reducing the need for personal vehicles. Though still in its early stages, Dodd‘s initiative, entitled Carrborrow, seeks to establish a car-sharing enterprise in Carrboro.

Carrborrow hopes to link people with forms of alternative transportation and if effective could help alleviate traffic in downtown Carrboro. .
Staff photo by Allie Maupin

“Car sharing is a very interesting trend,” Dodd said. “What I want to do is establish that here in Carrboro, but with a locally driven focus.”
Car sharing started in Europe, where a group of people would buy a car together and share its cost and usage. Unlike renting a car, sharing allows many members to use the same car by allowing them to rent a vehicle for hours, rather than days.

The idea is for people give up the use of a personal car in exchange for access to a full fleet of vehicles, parked in locations around a city. Dodd said his initiative will increase the energy efficiency of cars because one can pick the best mode of transportation for a given trip.

Dodd, originally from New England, has lived in central North Carolina for 40 years. He works as an environmental planner for the Town of Carrboro, a job that he said “constantly requires thinking of ways to make Carrboro better.” The origins of Carrborrow came from combining of Dodd’s love of cycling with his commitment to the environment.

“I was into recreational riding and bike touring, and all of that started my thinking about alternative transportation,” Dodd said.

Giles Blunden, Dodd’s neighbor, who has consulted on the project, thinks Carrboro is just the right place for a program like Carrborrow to work.

“People are open to new ideas here and want to better their community,” Bluden said. “I don’t think this could happen just anywhere.”

The car-sharing movement is not new to the area. Zipcar, the world’s largest car-sharing company, operates a small fleet on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The company and its cars are financed through membership fees and hourly car rental rates. Each vehicle in its fleet replaces 15 privately owned cars, which translates into reduced emissions and congestion on the roads, according to Zipcar.

Dodd hopes to establish a Zipcar-like service but wants to tailor the concept to better serve Carrboro. He plans for the Carrborrow fleet to include a variety of transportation options, not just cars.

“Ideally we will have modified bicycles and electric scooters as well as cars,” Dodd said. “Versatility is key.”

Carrborrow is still in its infancy. Dodd said he is now researching the concept and testing the waters before he takes the next step.

“Right now, it has not come into being,” Dodd said. “It now depends on where other people go with it.”

For more information about Zipcar, its fleet
and its locations, see the company’s Web site:
http://www.zipcar.com