Is Bike Counting Quixotic?

It turns out that sitting in a grassy median in a light industrial district by a bridge for two hours isn’t quite as bad as sitting in a vacant lot on a hill by a state highway for two hours. Last week I was again recruited by tricksy Saint Paul engineers into participating in the annual city-wide bike/walk count.

As I explained in last year's post,  

Getting hold of statistics for non-cars is quite difficult because people, bicycles, and buses aren't very predictable. There are a few options. You can use cameras, but that's expensive and time consuming. (Someone has to watch them!) Another option is rigorous surveys, but that’s also expensive and usually only happens through intrusive long-form-style census data. (E.g. the ACS commute data numbers.) 

That’s why Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s annual bike and walk counts are so important. They provide valuable data that advocates, politicians, and city staff can use to justify and demand better bike lanes and sidewalks. They provide much-needed feedback in the process of changing our streets, something we can point to on a chart or graph. We've been doing these counts in the Twin Cities since 2007 and (at least in my cursory survey) it's pretty rare for a US city to have such a good set of longitudinal numbers.

Two Hours in an Industrial Park

Perhaps the all-powerful bike lobby took pity on me. After the torturous hell of the Robert and Cesar Chavez, this year I was lucky to be placed at the corner of Wabasha and Fillmore. Because it’s on the downhill side of a bridge crossing, I hoped for a modicum of people rolling from downtown into the vacant lots and half-empty concrete buildings of the West Side Flats.

And after the the Niagara torrent of cars last year, I was not completely disappointed. Nested on my  “natural” industrial park grass, I faced the West Side Flats apartments, the only new residential building to be built in the flats for half a century. It is hopefully a sign of things to come. Its shiny facade, empty balconies, and even emptier first-floor retail space lent hope to the surrounding unwalkable wasteland.



Over the next few hours, a few thoughts popped in my mind. The Wabasha Street Bridge slants steeply from high up the downtown bluff to the east edge of Harriet Island. It’s also the newest (major) bridge in Saint Paul, at just over a decade. As people gravitated down the wide sidewalks, growing from ants into real people, my first thought was to wonder where these white collar workers with their backpacks were going. Why were they walking down largely deserted Wabasha?

My guess is that most of the people were walking to their cars. In good Costanza tradition, free parking can be found on the West Side Flats if you walk far enough past the vacant lots.

The second thought was that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, so that the smell of blood from the nearby Red Cross blood bank HQ drifted over the area. It’s easily one of the most disconcerting smells I encounter on my wending way through the city. It makes me uneasy, but I suppose compared to a slaughterhouse or a tannery, it’s not that bad.

[The bike lane gap is only 1/3 of a mile, but makes the whole trip suck.]

Thirdly, I happened to be placed at the exact spot where the bike lane disappears and needlessly throws bicyclists into traffic with the fast moving cars (speeding down the bridge). This is one my most glaring "bike gaps" in the city of Saint Paul (which is saying something), and perfectly illustrates the importance of paying attention to gaps and continuity when designing bike lanes. Time and again over the hours, I watched cyclists come down the bridge bike lane and veer up onto the sidewalk, or deal with aggressive driving.

Finally, sitting there and watching the bridge bow down from downtown, I kept thinking about my recent visit to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki. I imagined what this place might feel like in one of those transit-friendly, walkable, bikeable cities full of six-story buildings, wide sidewalks, and street life. What if there were actual places to walk to and from? How different these streets would be!


Me and Don Quixote

[Norton Critical Edition, yo.]

I should add that, over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading Don Quixote. The book has long sat in the “to read” pile on my shelf. And though I’d never actually read the book, the term “quixotic” has long been one of my favorite words to use.

Before reading the book, I’d always thought “quixotic” meant “someone who fights a lost cause.” I’d cheerfully referred to US bicyclists, documentary filmmakers, or anyone attempting to end capitalism as being particularly quixotic in nature, people who spend days “tilting at windmills” and losing over and again. Counting bikes on an American arterial had seemed to me a quintessentially quixotic enterprise, devoting ones life to the mundane and microscopic, and imagining these things to be deeply important.

Maybe it was the desolate landscape or the smell of half-baked blood, but actually reading the book while sitting on the street corner, I changed my mind about what is and is not quixotic. I began to believe it had nothing to do with lost causes, but instead someone lost inside a beautiful delusion.

For example, sitting on the corner, I paged through the second section of the book, where a group of Don Quixote’s friends attempt to lure him back to his village by humoring him. Like Sancho, they join in to his fantasy of being a gallant knight on a noble quest, in order to they try to persuade Don Quixote to return home.

One night, as they’re sitting around eating dinner an an inn, Don Quixote gives the following speech:

And so they supped in high enjoyment, which was increased when they observed Don Quixote leave off eating, and, moved by an impulse like that which made him deliver himself at such length when he supped with the goatherds, begin to address them:

"Verily, gentlemen, if we reflect upon it, great and marvellous are the things they see, who make profession of the order of knight-errantry. Say, what being is there in this world, who entering the gate of this castle at this moment, and seeing us as we are here, would suppose or imagine us to be what we are? Who would say that this lady who is beside me was the great queen that we all know her to be, or that I am that Knight of the Rueful Countenance, trumpeted far and wide by the mouth of Fame? Now, there can be no doubt that this art and calling surpasses all those that mankind has invented, and is the more deserving of being held in honour in proportion as it is the more exposed to peril."

[The pedestrian of the mournful countenance.]

The irony is, of course, that Quixote and his friends are actually a bunch of drunken bums in rags gnawing on old bread. Sitting there counting occasional bikes, I realized that, if anyone is living in a land of delusion, it might be those that convince themselves that our cities are sustainable.

In other words, most of our plans are full of quixotic, flowery language about recycling, environmentalism, sustainability, or glorious bike-filled futures. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the country drives everywhere and walks only as far as the next free parking spot. Meanwhile we continue building roads and parking lots that lock us into the fossil fueled, earth-roasting future, while the non-motorized mode share dwindles asymptotically near zero.

Translated into the present moment, Don Quixote might say this:

Verily gentlemen, if we reflect on it, great and marvelous are the things seen by those who make profession of the order of bike counting. Who in the world, if he entered the gates of St. Paul at this moment, would suppose or imagine this to be a top bike city in the country?

We can’t be a sustainable city and keep expanding our freeways.  I’m as guilty as anyone, but to say otherwise seems like self-delusion.

Rough Sketch of a Solution to Downtown Saint Paul's Parking Problem

Last night, there was a meeting at the Jerome Theater about parking in Lowertown, Saint Paul. I wasn't there, but (as always) dogged Pioneer Press reporter Frederic Melo attended.

He tweeted thus:

Parking is a big deal, for lots of reasons. It's something I've been thinking about more and more these days, and I'm not alone. Last night's meeting is not unusual in local city politics. Ask any elected official. Parking is near the top of what people complain about in everyday city life.

But accommodating parking comes at a high cost, in terms of both city budgets and urban fabric.

Here are the problems as I see them:

[Two Costanzas.]

Problem #1: Parking cars in downtown Saint Paul can be frustrating.  Last night's meeting is Exhibit A. (Meanwhile, others find it easy.) This problem will only get worse as more businesses, residences, and activities locate downtown. Picture driving around for 20 minutes looking for a spot, turning down one-way streets, cursing. Picture a city of Costanzas.


Problem #2: The city is already filled with expensive parking lots. The city and developers have already spent many millions on parking garages downtown. Historic buildings have been converted into parking garages. [Shudder.] There are lots of parking garages, and they're really expensive.

[One of downtown's many blank walls & unappealing sidewalks.]

Problem #3: Large parts of downtown are ugly and unappealing to pedestrians. Walk around and see this for yourself. While there are a few really nice parts of downtown Saint Paul, many streets are lined with windowless concrete walls. (Usually, these are off-street parking garages.) The sidewalks are covered with litter, especially this time of year. Once you leave Lowertown or Rice Park, there aren't enough businesses, people, or street activity to make walking in downtown Saint Paul very pleasant.

These problems are interlinked. Solving Problem #1 comes at the expense of Problems #2 and #3. It seems an impossible challenge.

[Leave Lowertown or Rice Park, and lots of downtown Saint Paul is ugly and empty.]

Here's a rough sketch of a solution. Almost all of this is based on the work of the economist and planner Donald Shoup, the expert on US parking policy.

 
Step #1: Do a parking survey. Count the number of on- and off-street spots downtown. Also, get a rough measure of how "used" each spot is. What is its average occupancy throughout the day and week?

You'll probably find (as the city repeatedly says) that there are lots of parking spots downtown. You'll probably also find that a some of these spots are in very high demand. Most of these will be on-street surrounding prime attractions (e.g. the Farmer's market). On other hand, you'll probably also find that many spots have low demand, and sit empty much of the time. Most of these will be off-street garages, or in marginal locations.

 
Step #2: Set prices according to demand. Make the prime spots expensive and the distant spots cheap. This will ruffle a few feathers, but making prime spots expensive will encourage people to "turn over" the spots more quickly. Parking at in-demand locations will become easier but more expensive. This would eliminate "cruising" for parking, and end Costanza frustration. It's pretty straightforward: those who value convenience pay more, those who want to save money walk farther out of their way. The important thing is that all the parking gets used. We get full return on the investments that the city and developers have made over the years.

[You could hire way more people like this guy.]

Step #3: Take the added revenues and create a downtown Business Improvement District (BID). During recent discussions of downtown's future, some folks in the city have said they'd like to see a BID. This parking plan would provide a funding stream with no added property or sales taxes on local businesses or residents. How we spend the money would be up to residents, businesses, and the downtown Chamber. Some possibilities: streetscape improvements, ambassadors / people to pick up the ubiquitous litter, nicer bus shelters, bike racks... I don't know! How the money would be spent should be up to the people that use the space. Give those 100 people in that room a pot of money to fix their problem. If they want to build a parking lot with it, more power to them.

 
Step #4: Repeat as necessary. This might involve several iterations, as the supply and demand of parking shifts over time and prices need to be adjusted. Ideally, you could make this process automatic using "smart" meters. (This is what they are doing in San Francisco.)


That's it!

[They're doing this in San Francisco. They made an app for it.]

There are three benefits of this plan.  First, parking becomes easy and transparent. We make an app for it. If you are looking for a spot on Mears Park, there will be one there for you. No more Costanzas. Never worry about it again. Second, it's far cheaper than any other solution out there. Parking ramps are very, very expensive, both in terms of dollars and in terms of opportunity costs. For every block of downtown Saint Paul that's a windowless parking garage, that's one block that won't have people in it, and that will be horrible to walk next to. This is way cheaper, and preserves the urban fabric. Third, it gives people some political control over their own destiny. What would those 100 people do with thousands of dollars per year to invest downtown? I don't know. I doubt they know either, but it'd be interesting to find out.

The bottom line is that parking in downtown Saint Paul should not be free after 4:30. Free parking might benefit a few lucky people, but causes lots of problems and frustration for many others. As long as parking is free on the street, nobody will use the thousands of spaces in the huge ugly garages we've spent millions to construct. People will waste countless miserable hours cruising the streets looking for the perfect spot in order to save $5 on their way to see the Wild, the Saints, Keillor, or whatever Scientologists do at night. Meanwhile, off-street garages will just sit there, underused. That's not a happy situation.

This solution is an outline. Details need to be added. But this would work. It'd be cheap, and in the long run, it would make some of the 100 people in that room yesterday happy. It would improve downtown Saint Paul as a place to work, live, and play. It would be a great stride toward making our downtown a "real city" once again.

Reading the Highland Villager #141

[Basically the problem is that the best source of Saint Paul streets & sidewalks news is the Highland Villager, a very fine and historical newspaper. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its not available online. You basically have to live in or frequent Saint Paul to read it. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free. See also: Three Reasons Why I Re-Blog the Highland Villager.] 


Headline: St. Paul nets Major League Soccer team with Midway stadium site
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A soccer stadium will be built at Snelling and I-94 for the local soccer team, which will be upgraded to MLS status. Article includes quotes from the press conference. The stadium will cost $120 of private dollars. [And an open question about the public side of the ledger, depending on a lot of things like parking, roads, etc.] The Port Authority is involved [for some reason]. It requires legislative approval for the tax abatement and Federal Transit Administration approval for the land deal. The lease length is undetermined. There might be soil pollution. There will be an advisory committee of members of the public. The shopping center may be redeveloped. [We can only hope, though the underground bowling alley is kind of special to me, if problematic for its own reasons.]


Headline: Mac-Grove releases report on organized trash collection: Study indicates residents would be open to system under certain conditions
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Mac-Grove neighborhood group did a study about [the destructive practice of] non-organized trash collection in Saint Paul. They got a grant. There are laws and precedents for the city to organize trash hauling, which would, according to supporters, reduce costs and have fewer trucks in alleys. Others disagree citing the way that small businesses get "muscled out" by big or national companies. [Well, garbage collection is a famously mob-run activity, it's true.] CM Stark is a fan of the idea of organized trash collection. Article includes quotes. There was a survey about how people like saving money. There are 19 trash companies in the city. Article includes quote from a small one about how it would kill his business. Saint Paul used to have city-run trash collection 40 years ago. [I did not know that. Thanks Highland Villager! I've always been dumbfounded by the fact that Saint Paul cannot have organized trash collection. My #1 reason why it's a good idea has to do with street maintenance. Each garbage trucks weighs a crapload, and if you multiply all the extra trips by all the extra weight and do the math about how many more potholes and pavement destruction occur, I'd bet it's a pretty large number.] A CM in the late 90s tried to organize trash collection but the trash men stopped him.


Headline: Parking meter debate revs up on Grand; Anti-meter sentiments resound at packed meeting with mayor
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [There was a meeting. I transcribed the first half of it. Either there is a "parking problem" on Grand Avenue or there isn't. Apparently there isn't. Which is one reason why I'm expecting to hear no complaints about parking on Grand Avenue for the next decade. It's great, easy to park, and go ahead and build infill apartments or open new businesses because it's all just fine as it is. No parking complaints. Phew, what a relief!]


Headline:  St. Paul extends downtown meters along W. Seventh St.; Other meters, longer hours, higher rates during events also go in place this January
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city is finally going to extend enforcement and raise rates for on-street parking downtown, especially during events. They are also expanding the meters into the very congested area along West 7th Street by the Xcel Center. [You know, by Cossetta's. This is about as much news coverage as parking meters should be worth, because they're not a big deal at all, simply a solution for how to make on-street parking as useful and efficient for businesses and residents as possible. Getting upset about parking meters is like getting upset about a thermostat. They're both very simple devices that provide feedback.]


Headline: Veteran pols of St. Paul STRONG seek return to the city's tradition of citizen participation
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: [Old people that used to be making decisions in the back room, but aren't any more, are now upset about the existence of back rooms. They have an acronymn. There is a list of "grievances" that is straight out of the Costanza family home at Festivus: some fair points, but mostly seem to be upset about parking and traffic. Also really dislike the mayor and stadia.]


Headline: Liquor licenses, TIF aid sought for Schmidt site
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The tax-increment financing district at the old industrial site where Victoria Park is along West 7th will now be used for the Schmidt Brewery nearby. [Especially the rathskellar, I hope, which has just been sitting there but has a lot of potential to be a bona fide public place.] The city would also like to expand liquor licenses, because there's an [archaic, weird] system that limits licenses by Ward.


Headline: City considering lifting limits on restaurant liquor licenses
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The City is reviewing an amendment to the charter that would exempt restaurants from the existing limits on liquor licenses, [allocated by ward]. Ward 3 [home of the Highland Villager] has the fewest.


Headline: Dispute over public sidewalk painting is laid over 'til spring
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The owner of a magic shop / headshop painted cute footprints on the sidewalk in front of his store but the city is charging him with vandalism. Owner says its street art. [What do I think? Um, I guess I'll have to check it out. Why not use chalk?] Someone once demanded a City art sidewalk poem  be removed from in front of their house. [I want to know where!]


Headline: City adopts new sanctions for owners of abandoned pools
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: If you abandon a swimming pool and it fills with garbage and kids fall into it, you can be cited. [Asking for a friend.]


Headline: Trees felled, bluff graded as Victoria Park is landscaped
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city is making a big park on the site of the old oil storage facility along the river bluff. It involves cutting down trees. "I was flabbergasted," says one neighbor. There will be something called a "moist soil cell" which is like a wetland-related thing. [Could be where Ramsey County keeps their inmates now that the old jail is being demo'd.]


Headline: StuartCo is building 53 studio apartments off West 7th Street
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An apartment building is going up in a vacant lot in Highland Park. There's a lot of demand for studios, which apparently appeal to young people. [Article fails to mention traffic or parking.]


Headline: Clear skies ahead; Bad Weather Brewing brings spirit of seasons to West 7th
Author: Loren Green

Short short version: A new brewery has opened up at the base of the high bridge. "Parking has been a bone of contention." Apparently rules will be enforced by "police" who will issue something called "tickets." [Saint Paul is breaking new ground!] Best quote from the brewer: "We're not super into weather puns."


Headline: Icon of Ramsey Hill hospitality is reborn; After 30 years, Rupp reopens a restored Commodore restaurant
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Commodore [where Baudrillard once drank in Minneapolis] is open again. [I've already been. Very nice, and apps are affordable.] There are two articles on it, with tons of history details.


Headline: BZA grants variances for new Grand condo
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An apartment building that was denied approval by the Planning Commission because of concerns about size, traffic, and parking [even though its almost exactly the same size as the two older buildings on either side, and has off-street parking, unlike its historic neighbors] might be approved after all thanks to a vote by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Don’t Over-React to Saint Paul’s car2go Shrinkage

There’s a hearing today at Saint Paul City Hall about popular car sharing company car2go’s plans to shrink its service area, cutting out cars in large parts of the city, including the richest and poorest parts of town.

(Note: I’ve never used the service, but it also eliminates service where I live.)

It’s tempting to over-react to the service cuts, particularly if you live in (or represent) one of the affected areas. But I think we shouldn’t insist on an all-or-nothing approach to car sharing in the Twin Cities. We should demand some basic social equity, but the beauty of car2go lies in its flexibility. Much like bike sharing, car2go is a very specific tool that reflects its built environment.  If we want more car sharing, we have to “earn it” by building car-lite urban design.

Here are a few key things to remember about how car2go works and doesn’t work.

[The proposed shrinkage.]

car2go is flexible but tricky to balance 

[car2go usage in Minneapolis, 2014.]

I haven’t seen the car2go data beyond what’s in their quarterly report (and only for Minneapolis). I don’t know their business model, but if it’s anything like Nice Ride’s, there’s a trade-off between coverage area and usage. Dense parts of the city (downtown, uptown, etc.) are going to have high usage, and less dense parts of the city (everywhere else) are going to have low usage. Sometimes, very low usage.

That makes it tricky to plan car sharing, because one of the main costs is “rebalancing.” The genius of car2go’s business model is that, if done right, it requires no costs at all. In theory, because anyone can drive any car at any time, they could simply circulate all by themselves like fish in a pond.

But in real world Twin Cities, if someone parks a car out at an edge, it’s probably going to sit there for a long time before someone else comes along to use it. And the business model (which I haven’t seen, by the way) depends on circulation. A car that’s moving is making money, one that’s parked is not. So the company (most likely) has to spend a lot of time “rebalancing” the cars from edges into centers, back into the high circulation parts of the city.

Where you draw that line reveals the trade-off between geographic and economic equity.


Not a silver bullet for going car-lite

[Bike + Nice Ride + bus pass + car2go app.]

The other key thing to remember is that people don’t replace their cars with car2go on a one-to-one basis. Instead, people replace their (second or only) cars with a suite of affordable options, most especially bicycling, walking, and transit. Car sharing, taxis, or Uber (the most expensive private car alternatives) are more of a safety net for the cheap options. For those without cars, you take a car2go when you have to go somewhere out of the ordinary, at inconvenient times, or if the weather is uncooperative.

But that car share safety net is hugely important. For many of my friends, car2go plays a big part in their ability to live car-free. There are lots of stories.

But because it’s not a one-to-one replacement, you need to rely on places in the city that offer the other alternatives. Car2go only makes sense in places with good transit, mixed-use density, and bike infrastructure. So, that’s pretty much where you see the new lines drawn.

That’s why the proposed Saint Paul map is so interesting. Unlike many of the city’s more economically driven “coverage area” limits, this map eliminates Highland Park but keeps Frogtown. And it makes sense given that the Green Line area is where the quality transit is located, if not the money.

(Maybe if Saint Paul builds the Riverview line through a new dense development at the Ford site, the coverage will expand back into the Southwest of the city.)



A flexible parking solution

[A "car2go Yahtzee" =  five-in-a-row; this one in downtown Minneapolis.]

The other big benefit of car2go is that it offers a flexible solution to consistent parking complaints. At no cost (other than the “opportunity cost of another car being parked in a spot”), car2go provides an alternative to the private car that is especially useful in places where parking costs money. In other words, if you’re spending $5 to park downtown anyway, that’s half of the cost of a car2go trip. Market-driven parking policy makes car sharing (or other car alternatives) much more sensible.

The Grand Avenue example springs to mind. If the city had gone forward with parking meters on Grand Avenue, I’d be willing to bet that car2go might be more willing to expand service in Saint Paul. The tiny cars (two of which can fit into one parking space) make perfect sense for places with meters. They make a bit less sense when you have to drive around (paying by the minute) to find a free spot.

Plus, providing free parking is often expensive for cities. Right now, Saint Paul is debating spending millions on expanding parking lots in Como Park, and contemplating how many parking ramps its going to need at the (aforementioned) Ford site and the new soccer stadium at Snelling and University. Parking ramps cost millions of dollars, last for decades, and are all but impossible to retrofit for different uses. Every parking ramp we build “locks” the city into the private-car transportation model for another generation.

On the other hand, as this proposal shows, car2go can be changed almost instantly. Every time a car2go “turns over” when its used for another trip, that’s a couple of parking spaces that we don’t have to build. And every parking ramp we don’t build gives the city a generation of fiscal and architectural flexibility. Twenty years ago, according to some trends or predictions, many of today’s parking ramps and lots might not be needed, and it’s really nice to be able to roll with the cultural preference punches. The more we have car2go, or other car sharing options, the better for the long term.

Data would be nice, some shrinkage is natural

To continue with the inappropriate metaphor, some shrinkage is natural. Saint Paul and Minneapolis are just getting out of the “cold water” of incessant parking subsidies. As George Costanza illustrates in the Hamptons episode, explaining shrinkage is difficult. “It just does… like a frightened turtle.” 

My one complaint about car2go is that they keep most of their data proprietary. Unlike Nice Ride, which offers as much data as they possibly can (without promoting stalking), car2go is a private company that is worried about competition.  How and when and where they rebalance is something they’d like to keep to themselves, and so they do.

It’d be nice to be able to see exactly where the cars2go go (“cars2went”?), and I’d like to see cities like Saint Paul and Minneapolis push for reports about which places have the most trips, where these trips are clustered, etc., to help guide development. The more that decision makers can see the specifics of the relationship between transportation and land use, on the local scale, the more easily folks can make convincing arguments about development or design decisions.

That said, I really like Council Member Amy Brendmoen’s response to the car2go announcement, posted on her Facebook site earlier this week. (Note: Service was cut in all of Brendmoen's ward.)  She writes:

[...] After lots of thought I am supportive of this shrink down because I want to keep them here. If you look at the modest list of the cities that they serve (such as Copenhagen, Seattle, Austin, Frankfort, Rome, Miami) its pretty clear that Saint Paul is not even close to a large enough city for car2go to naturally be in the market. We don't have the density or transit infrastructure of any of those cities.

[...]

 I for one really liked getting off a plane in Austin and finding that my little Saint Paul Car2Go membership works in other major cities. Adds to our cool factor. I think if we get too prescriptive we will lose out to Minneapolis and have nothing. So, long way of saying I am supportive of this change, as disappointed as I am.

AND if we (we meaning all saint paul residents) want them to stay here, we have to use the cars and talk to people about how to use them. They have greatly reduced their rates to spur activity and they need to know we want them here. Actions speak loudly.

There’s a public hearing on accepting the new car2go limits in Saint Paul this afternoon. If you live in the city, or even in Minneapolis (and use car2go), drop the council an email. Some car sharing is better than none. It's not the size that counts.

[A car2go in the Lex-Ham neighborhood.]