Compact Car Technology Sparks an Interest

"The No. 1 question is safety," Kirby said, adding that the general idea of shared vehicles is quickly gaining popularity. The idea of "publicly owned bicycles, where you take one and need to return it . . . is taking off in Europe," he said.

Ryan Chin, one of the MIT students working on the project, said he believes the problems can be solved through engineering and promotion of social etiquette that encourages sharing a vehicle.

"We know it's viable, and we know it could make a difference," said Chin, a doctoral candidate who is an architect as well as an engineer.

Some transit analysts said the personal vehicle could represent the future, because a "radical departure" from traditional transit planning is needed. Robert Puentes, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that people have "a tremendous frustration with the transportation network, a near despondency," and are looking for innovative ideas.

"We've maxed out the traditional responses, which is building new stuff," Puentes said.

Bulova said she asked the county transportation department to review the concept after it was brought to her attention by lawyer attorney John McGehan, who serves with Bulova on the board of directors of the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce.

McGehan, who read a magazine piece about CityCars, said they struck him as a solution to the question he had heard about how people would travel between the planned new Metro stations in Tysons Corner, Reston and Herndon and to their office complexes.

"Fairfax wants to present itself as cutting edge," he said. "This seems like a smart idea, really cool."