How easy is it to rent a car nearby?
Living car-lite or car-free mustn’t deprive you of life experience, especially if you live in our area, with its rich toolkit of mobility options. Yet many desirable destinations are not easily accessible by transit or bicycling, and would cost a pretty penny to go there by Lyft or Uber; the only way to get to some places is by car. That doesn’t mean you have to own a car. You can rent one!
But that raises the question, how do I get to the car rental office without, ironically, driving a car to get there? El Cerrito and Richmond Annex are blessed; you can take public transit. Avis Budget Rent-a-Car is a block from Downtown Berkeley BART. Three other rental agencies—all on San Pablo Avenue—are short rides on AC Transit 72 and 72M buses: Doherty’s in El Cerrito, Hertz in Albany, and Enterprise in Berkeley.
For even closer access to a car, get a subscription to Zipcar, which is a subsidiary of Avis Budget. Zipcars, waiting to be rented, are parked at designated spots at the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station; some can be routinely found at the Del Norte BART Station. — Steve Price