From a resource utilization point of view, things like Zipcars and Uber or Lyft make a ton of sense. Many people (me included) use their cars for only a few hours each week, but have thousands of dollars tied up in car ownership, insurance, maintenance and property taxes. Plus of course there’s all of that space devoted to parking cars. I’ve thought the same thing about lawnmowers, snowblowers and other equipment; you might use your lawnmower only a few hours each week and so do all of your neighbors.
No, it was a lot easily accessible on foot to any passersby in a densely populated neighborhood. I don’t remember which was harder, convincing Zipcar to risk a car or two or convincing my building to risk a space or two, but I’m positive neither was remotely interested. I’m even more positive that a few residents (starting with me) of the 500 car owners in the building would have sold our cars (and turned over our parking spots) to get a zipcar available.