I've considered it. But, the transaction overhead isn't small. I'd need to reserve the car in advance, Lyft to the rental agency, etc. Currently, I can decide to go to the mountains on a whim Friday afternoon.
That makes perfect sense. It also highlights some of the reasons why, a lot of the time, people own items that they don't use frequently. e.g. you may only use a lawnmower 15 times a year but most people aren't going to rent one each time.
But, the cost of a car/truck is massive relative to most people's overall budgets. So, there's probably lots of room for optimization through transit-as-a-service.
Sure. The cost of a car and, potentially, the cost of garaging a car in a city definitely merit a harder look at alternatives than other items may. There are city-dwellers who don't drive a lot and, with increased transportation options in a lot of cities, the marginal car-owner increasingly has other options they can consider.
I know a couple in SF who don't own a car and probably would have been forced to do so prior to Uber/Lyft, Zipcar, food delivery, etc. Of course, they also don't really do outdoor trips requiring a lot of gear on a regular basis and their kids are grown up and moved out as well.
