Zipcar, which began operations last month, uses a system similar to those in other cities. The company's nine Volkswagen Beetles and station wagons are strategically located near subway stops in Cambridge and neighboring Boston. For an annual fee of $75 and a $300 deposit, members get an ATM-like card that gives them access to the cars. Members go online to reserve a car for shopping expeditions or a weekend excursion. They pay $4.50 per hour and 40 cents per mile, compared with the typical $40 charge for a rental car. When done, they return the car to its reserved space.

City leaders agree. Seattle and Portland work with the car- sharing companies to find parking spots. In Cambridge, where applications for parking permits outnumber available spaces 2-1, officials have given Zipcar 10 spaces in city-owned garages in hopes of easing traffic. Harvard University and real estate developers also are offering parking spots to reduce the number of cars on the streets.

PHOTO, B/W, Patricia McDonnell, AP; Caption: No overhead: Katherine Watkins, a Zipcar member in Cambridge, Mass., can reserve a VW Beetle for $4.50 an hour and 40 cents a mile. Car sharing, a fixture in Europe and Canada, is catching on in the USA.