By Kristine Hansen
Madison Magazine
Special To Channel 3000

Last year, Sonya Newenhouse flew to Atlanta for the first North American Shared Car Conference. On the plane back to Madison, she read a book called "Divorce Your Car! Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile" by Katie Alvord.

"When I came home I decided to divorce my car," Newenhouse says. "I thought, 'If I can't do it myself, how can I sell the idea?'" The president of Madison Environmental Group also wrote a grant to launch a program here.

Car sharing, which could be launched as early as January 2003, is targeted at those who drive 7,000 miles a year or less, or who don't drive to work daily. It's also marketed as a cost-saving measure. According to Robbie Webber, Madison program manager for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, national surveys show the average American spends $8,000 to $12,000 a year to own and operate a car.

Here's how the program would work:

Fill out an application, including driving history.

Pay a monthly membership fee, about $15 to $20.

Receive a "smart key" to unlock the door of any car in the fleet. An ignition key would be inside a lock box inside each car.

Make a reservation by calling a 24-hour hotline or visiting the website.

Record miles driven on a log book.

Pay a per-mile and per-hour user fee, billed monthly.

Cars will be leased, under three years old and preferably fuel-efficient models, says Newenhouse. A gas card and an insurance card are in each car's glove box. If there's an accident, the member pays only the deductible.

Mayor Sue Bauman says car sharing could give a healthy boost to the city's Climate Change Action Plan, which aims to reduce 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by seven percent by 2010.

The principal beneficiaries of the car sharing program would be the growing number of downtown dwellers. "This car-sharing program adds a layer of living to downtown convenience," says Andrea Dearlove, director of 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin. "There's this American ideal of being in a car by yourself. There are people out there who, for whatever reason, don't feel comfortable taking a bus."

In the U.S., 13 cities have car-sharing programs. Nine other cities, including Cleveland and Chicago are, like Madison, creating blueprints. For more information on car sharing, including a worksheet to calculate your annual vehicle costs, visit the website www.madisonenvironmental.com or call 280-0800.

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