INDIANAPOLIS -- When the BlueIndy electric vehicle ride-sharing service started operation on Sept. 2 here, Cassie Stockamp wasted little time getting rid of her car.
She sold her 2009 Volkswagen CC that day so she could rely on the blue and white BlueIndy cars and her bicycle for her short commutes to work and around the city.
Stockamp wistfully describes her CC as a "beautiful car," but she's not losing any sleep now that it's gone.
"I'm thrilled not to have the car payment, the insurance, the oil changes, the fill-ups," says Stockamp, who commutes less than five miles daily from her home in the hip SoBro neighborhood north of central Indianapolis to her job downtown as president of the nonprofit Athenaeum Foundation. The nearest Blue-Indy cars are just a few blocks from her house. "We don't have a great mass transit system. That [BlueIndy] was the final piece I needed to sell my car. I really do care about my carbon footprint. That's my biggest motive."
BlueIndy, one of the nation's first municipally supported one-way EV ride-sharing services, eliminates many vehicle ownership hassles including insurance, maintenance, 24/7 roadside assistance, GPS and parking searches. All are courtesy of the city and Bollore Group, the French industrial and energy conglomerate that is investing $41 million to set up and run the service on a 15-year contract.