‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, every creature wanted to take a break from togetherness and have a little alone time. Or at least leave the living room. May we recommend Liquid? It’s a peer-to-peer bike-sharing service. Just search nearby for a friendly bike owner who’s willing to rent out her bike for a few bucks an hour, and you’re off and pedaling.
Treehugger explains:
Let’s say you are a small family and find yourself at the mercy of distant relatives in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro, and then find yourself further stranded without a car. If you know about Liquid, you can rent a beautiful bakfiets (one child an easy haul) for just 10 bucks a day, or a Surly longtail bike (two kids or a kid and a light adult, no problem) for $20 dollars a day, and easily, two-wheeled freedom is yours.
According to Liquid, the average daily price for a bike is $18, which in a city like New York ain’t bad. The site recommends setting an hourly rate (for rentals under four hours) at one-quarter of the daily price and the weekly rate at five times the daily rate.
In some ways, peer-to-peer bike-sharing is a little trickier than renting out an extra room. It’s helpful if you can pick up your rented ride nearby, but you’ll also probably want a bike that fits you, which limits the options. But the system seems pretty well set up for bike owners, at any rate: Liquid guarantees that they’ll throw down up to $5,000 to fix any damaged or stolen bike that the renter can’t reimburse you for.
