Soon, you may be able to share your personal vehicle or use vehicles belonging to your neighbors, using technology similar to that used by rental and car-sharing systems. It’s called peer-to-peer car-sharing and it’s catching on in the United States and abroad. In California, a peer-to-peer car-sharing bill has passed out of committee and is headed to the Assembly floor in May. A new site called RelayRides is launching person-to-person car-sharing in the Baltimore and Boston areas. And in the UK, WhipCar says peer-to-peer rentals area available across the country.

My favorite number in all these statistics: every shared vehicle replaces 15 individually owned vehicles. Another cool number: An average ZipCar user can save up to $435 per month by driving shared vehicles.

The numbers don’t lie! Car-sharing is here to stay.

Something I thought was cool is that the concept has met with no resistance from the taxi company with exclusive rights to service Sea-Tac, whose representatives said “If people want to be creative and save money and be more green, we’re absolutely OK with that.”

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is on board with taxi-sharing, too. In July of last year the “Commissioner’s Corner” column addressed the different ways the Taxi and Limousine Commission was supporting taxi-sharing, including pilot programs to develop multi-fare meters, support group riding at reduced rates from taxi stands at points on busy corridors, and place “livery stands” at places like shopping centers.

In U.S. cities, where taxis usually supplement public transportation systems, cab-sharing is a great way for consumers to save money while, in many cases, generating additional revenue for the cab driver. In other parts of the world, taxis actually are public transportation. When I was in Amman, Jordan last year, we went everywhere by cab–there is no public transportation, and taxis are super cheap and always available. And according to Wikipedia, dozens of other countries use taxis as the main form of transportation, calling the service everything from “multi-hire taxi” to “taxibus.”

Car sharing is a natural for college campuses. Often, students and faculty have little need for a car, either because the campus is situated within walking distance of stores and services or because it’s fairly remote and self-contained. The expense of car payments, insurance, and parking is just not worth it for many–but a car does come in handy sometimes, and car sharing is perfect for those times. Not to mention it helps the campuses contribute to a more sustainable world, one of CSU Chico’s stated reason for starting the program.

Zipcar says it has programs on 120 college campuses across the country and I imagine that will only grow.

Users loved it, and city employees, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, are enthusiastic, but it was only a one-day thing. Mayor Newsom’s plan to start a pilot bike-sharing program in the city by the Bay has been stalled out since he announced it in January, hampered by criticism that it was too small to succeed and by fears of vandalism and theft.

Sunday’s bikes were part of the “Bixi” system–a blend of the words “bike” and “taxi”–that is currently in use in Montreal. Let’s hope it, or some form of bike-sharing, catches on in more cities soon.

CAR:

RIDES:

FOOD:

HOME:

GOODS:

TASKS:

BUYING:

SPACE:

WORK:

CARE:

SKILLS:

FUN: