With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the time of year to count your blessings and reflect on the things for which you’re truly thankful.

In the spirit of the season, here are five reasons we’re thankful for shared mobility:

1. It’s good for the environment. Services like bike-sharing and car-sharing help take cars off the road and result in fewer vehicle miles traveled – and fewer greenhouse gasses discharged into the atmosphere.

2. It helps reduce congestion. No one likes sitting in traffic. Shared mobility reduces the need for vehicle ownership, encourages greater use of public transit and helps facilitate car and van-pooling through services like Lyft Line, UberPool and Bridj.

3. It encourages a healthier way of life. Articles abound about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. By becoming less reliant on cars to get from point A to point B, people are more likely to walk, ride the train – or use bike-share – to get where they need to go.

4. Shared mobility makes it easier to go carless. Cars are expensive. With gas and maintenance, the average cost of owning a car is more than $9,000 per year. Services like car-share and ride-share allow you to have access to personal transportation when you need it, but mean you’re not paying for a car when it’s sitting in your driveway or on the street.

5. It’s interesting! There’s never a dull moment when it comes to the evolving shared mobility industry. It seems as though there’s a new development every day, from new bike-share programs launching in cities across the nation to Lyft’s new Driver Destination service, which enables users to give rides while commuting or running errands.

Is there a reason that you’re thankful for shared mobility? If so let us know.

-SUMC Staff