Thoughts for Ft Hood carsharing

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Suggestions for coordinated Ft Hood area transportation system

• Research existing carsharing programs, and either contract with an existing CSO that can most closely meet the goals, or create a new program after studying features and equipment of existing programs. If creating a new program, may want to license/lease equipment and some customer service from an existing CSO, at least during startup phase.

• Prorate fees (if any) for relocating (PCSing) members. May want to do this for anyone dropping membership, not just soldiers, as this would encourage people to try it out.

• See about working with "foreign" CSOs to transfer insurance and sharing records on relocating (PCSing) members without having to pay the fee again.

• See about near-transparent TDY/vacation access to vehicles in "foreign" CSOs, via temporary access card (or maybe rental agencies, if no CSO is present). This helps provide "one-stop" access for car needs.

• Business (fleet vehicle) plans, for various post organizations, including contractors.

• Personal plans, for individual soldiers and their families.

• Research: see about business-sponsored personal plans, perks for people who are not members but who are connected to an organization which is a business member; would probably have different insurance needs.

• Research: see about personal-sponsored guest plans, for people who are not members, but are visiting people who are members.

• See about Phantom Express access for carsharing program vehicles when driven by people who are already authorized (or eligible) to use Phantom Express.

• See about contracting some or all existing vehicles in fleets (such as GSA) to carsharing program. This would help the carsharing program get up and running quickly and get less-frequently-used vehicles into use.

• See about coordinating with local rental agencies in case carsharing program needs extra vehicles temporarily, or rental agency needs more vehicles temporarily. Rental agencies do not make money on vehicles which are sitting in the rental lot. This also gives rental agencies access to a wider variety of vehicles for their customers. This would help the carsharing program get up and running quickly. It would help car rental agencies by allowing them to cut down on their slack inventory.

• Coordinate with local shuttle bus system (HOP), taxi services, and car rental agencies to pay for ride with carsharing program member card.

• Coordinate with local gas stations (including AAFES) to get fleet prices for gas (preferably using RFID pass on car), optionally for personal vehicles also (will probably want this to be pre-paid).

• Coordinate with local repair shops (including AAFES) to disseminate maintenance and documentation standards for carsharing program vehicles, and standards for taking care of members (arrange a replacement vehicle), and to pre-agree to bill carsharing program for repair work. A simple notice in the logbook might be sufficient.

• See about membership by people who are of legal driving age but below 21-25.

• See about using Phantom Express card as carsharing program member card.

• Consider breaking startup/annual fee into monthly installments, with first month free, starting with first use, to reduce the barrier to joining for low-income people. Would need to find a sponsor to provide the up-front money for this. Losses at this point (people who never use a CSO vehicle) could be put down as a direct marketing expense. See next item...

• Related to item above, Garrison should make serious effort to get all eligible soldiers in barracks (work with BMOs) and families in post housing (work with village mayors and community life center staff) to join.

• Research: see about reducing sign-up overhead almost completely by having members provide current driver's license and insurance paperwork, and taking their (signed) word for it that it is legitimate.

• Parking lots for carsharing program vehicles should ideally have bicycle rack nearby (covered would be nice), shuttle bus stop nearby, and maybe storage lockers for members to rent (for storing child car seats, etc).

• Carsharing program will work best as the shuttle bus system becomes more comprehensive.

• Carsharing program should be opened to regular civilians in surrounding communities; this will help increase comprehensiveness of shuttle system and therefore increase the worth of the carsharing program to everyone.

• Carsharing program should acquire vehicles from local dealers where possible, so as to reduce any impact. The program would help car dealers to a certain extent by giving members a chance to extensively try out a model before buying.

• See about phone kiosk near carsharing program vehicle lots, so members who do not have computer access or a cellphone can arrange immediate reservation.

• See about car phones so that reservations can be made or changed, or emergency service requested, 911 service requested, or taxi summoned. Should be handsfree, with option to allow it to operate only when vehicle is not in motion or is parked, to allow for legal and/or safety issues. Note that at least one cellphone service provides kid phones which do nothing but "phone home".

• Carsharing program could benefit driving schools (with an appropriate contract and insurance) by giving them a variety of vehicles for their students to train on. Consider discounting such use, since properly-trained drivers are safer drivers.

• Consider requiring or strongly recommending annual driver's ed refresher/defensive driving class for members, possibly partially or fully subsidized by membership fee. Consider driver's ed classes for members or would-be members who have not had a formal class before.

• See about working with current member insurance agent (if any) for insurance coverage. See about splitting insurance in half, into insurance related to vehicle and insurance related to member. A member's own insurance company might be willing to give a lower rate, and CSO would be able to allow some people to drive even if driving record would otherwise not meet the group requirements. Insurance related to vehicle would vary with replacement cost and safety of vehicle.

• Car GPS map systems have gotten cheap; see about mounting GPS map systems in vehicles. May want option for display to turn on only when when car is not moving, or is parked for legal and/or safety reasons. This would be especially useful for visiting members of "foreign" CSOs. A map display which can be programmed would be nice, as other capabilities could be added, such as information specific to the area. Could also take place of logbook. Even nicer if could be combined with carphone described above; use data connection to talk to server to upload logbook entries and report problems. Maybe also tap into car computer for status. Could have it act as a general-purpose kiosk, including full internet access. What the heck, add a webcam for videophone capability, as well as an internet jukebox capability.

• Research: Some ATM machines (see at 7-Elevens) have become multi-purpose kiosks with almost the full capabilities of a standard bank. See about working with them to get access to CSO web site, for making reservations, etc. These things have other possibilities as well, especially in a relatively transient area like this, such as providing directions, yellow and white pages information, etc. Such kiosks could be used instead of the phone kiosks suggested above.

• See about an oversight group which can help with expanding operations to other military bases/communities and later to non-military communities. A package could be created, complete with plans, proposals, legal and other forms, personnel positions needed, equipment needed, and so forth, to set up a fully-functional CSO almost overnight. An oversight group would handle all inter-CSO stuff, including inter-operation agreements with "foreign" CSOs.

• Time-Warner / RoadRunner has a teleworker plan which gives relatively cheap (currently $80 a month; cheaper than office space) securable (static IP) high-speed internet access to work-at-home employees. The service is suitable for VOIP and reasonably good video, which would be suitable for customer service personnel, without needing an office. Other internet providers probably have similar plans.