Notes from Howard's Sabbatical from Working. The name comes from a 1998 lunch conversation. Someone asked if everything man knew was on the web. I answered "no" and off the top of my head said "Fidel Castro's favorite color". About every 6-12 months I've searched for this. It doesn't show up in the first 50 Google results (this blog is finally first for that search), AskJeeves says it's: red.
I realized over lunch today of a specific business opportunity for this. Next to my office, in Pittsburgh's Strip District, the old Armstrong Cork Factory has been converted into loft apartments. The building is the size of a small city. Assuming full capacity there's got to be 1500 people living there easy. Across the street they built a parking garage with retail (currently unrented) space on the ground floor. It's the perfect market for these things. Typically Pittsburgh would be tough sell, because people are so spread out (thus the need for cars) and it's very hilly (electrics notsomuch). But this site is close to downtown, personal parking is tough, the city dwelling residents don't need daily cars, and there's plenty of space to park/store them in the garage. Heck, even living in the suburbs, if the price was right I could actually subscribe and take one home and back to work each day, parking it at the store where it's rented in the first place. Okay, I finally found a franchise business I might wanna get in on. Too bad it doesn't exist yet.
I'm not sure what you mean. Zipcar works so you must be referring to some limitation of the vehicle. You think MIT would design a car that can't handle potholes? and of course you have to wonder how the car will do in the snow or in a collision with an SUV.
A consumer car of this size requires smooth roads and appropriate parking space. Roads here are not good (not compared with Eastern Europe or third world), poorly designed, parking is infrastructure is inefficient and is designed for big cars, American cities are not designed for compact living (B and NY are somewhat, but just somewhat, an exception), etc.
7 comments:
I hear that soon after they are released Costco will begin selling them in bulk packs of fourteen, in plastic blister-paks.
I'd definitely be into the idea. I commute 14 miles each way to work and every day I think, why isn't there a train on this route?
We should all have our own personal trains.
I realized over lunch today of a specific business opportunity for this. Next to my office, in Pittsburgh's Strip District, the old Armstrong Cork Factory has been converted into loft apartments. The building is the size of a small city. Assuming full capacity there's got to be 1500 people living there easy. Across the street they built a parking garage with retail (currently unrented) space on the ground floor. It's the perfect market for these things. Typically Pittsburgh would be tough sell, because people are so spread out (thus the need for cars) and it's very hilly (electrics notsomuch). But this site is close to downtown, personal parking is tough, the city dwelling residents don't need daily cars, and there's plenty of space to park/store them in the garage. Heck, even living in the suburbs, if the price was right I could actually subscribe and take one home and back to work each day, parking it at the store where it's rented in the first place. Okay, I finally found a franchise business I might wanna get in on. Too bad it doesn't exist yet.
Have you heard of Zipcar?
I can see how this car can easily be adopted in some European countries. Here infrastructure and roads are not good enough.
I'm not sure what you mean. Zipcar works so you must be referring to some limitation of the vehicle. You think MIT would design a car that can't handle potholes? and of course you have to wonder how the car will do in the snow or in a collision with an SUV.
A consumer car of this size requires smooth roads and appropriate parking space. Roads here are not good (not compared with Eastern Europe or third world), poorly designed, parking is infrastructure is inefficient and is designed for big cars, American cities are not designed for compact living (B and NY are somewhat, but just somewhat, an exception), etc.
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