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Increase in European Carpooling Marks Larger Trend

Two European carpooling sites recently gained the favor of venture capitalists, who point to years of declining car ownership independent of the current economic recession.
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Article written by guest writer Kecia Lynn

What’s the Latest Development?

Two European carpooling companies, BlaBlaCar and Carpooling.com, are poised to change how people in the developed world travel, thanks to investment from several venture capital firms. According to an article in the New York Times, more than 1.4 million rides are booked monthly between the two companies. Unlike their American counterpart ZipCar, the European versions involve car owners who offer seats for a fixed price. In fact, Carpooling.com hopes to start its service in the United States soon.

What’s the Big Idea?

Writer Derek Thompson uses graphs to show that, contrary to belief, the trend away from car ownership has been going on for 20 years in Europe, Japan and Australia. Increased gas prices and migration to cities are behind the trend. However, auto manufacturers aren’t losing sleep just yet: “[H]alf of last year’s new car sales came from developing economies, for whom [the concept of] ‘peak car’ is a date far in the future.” Not too far, according to Thompson: The slowing of growth in countries like China and Brazil, along with established public transportation systems and the continued rise of gas prices, means that group travel is still a convincing alternative.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

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Guest Thinkers
Happy New Year
It’s plain to see that I’m an optimist, sometimes more than is socially comfortable. The ease with which I dismiss the disastrous economic decline above serves as one example of that. I wrote that the recession will benefit our political system, and, before I cut this line, as having “rewarded our company for methodical execution and ruthless efficiency by removing competitors from the landscape.” I make no mention of the disastrous effects on millions of people, and the great uncertainty that grips any well-briefed mind, because it truly doesn’t stand in the foreground of my mind (despite suffering personal loss of wealth). Our species is running towards a precipice with looming dangers like economic decline, political unrest, climate crisis, and more threatening to grip us as we jump off the edge, but my optimism is stronger now than ever before. On the other side of that looming gap are extraordinary breakthroughs in healthcare, communications technology, access to space, human productivity, artistic creation and literally hundreds of fields. With the right execution and a little bit of luck we’ll all live to see these breakthroughs — and members of my generation will live to see dramatically lengthened life-spans, exploration and colonization of space, and more opportunity than ever to work for passion instead of simply working for pay. Instead of taking this space to regale you with the many personal and focused changes I intend to make in 2009, let me rather encourage you to spend time this year thinking, as I’m going to, more about what we can do in 2009 to positively affect the future our culture will face in 2020, 2050, 3000 and beyond.
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