HOURCAR member rewards

You use your HOURCAR key fob to save money on transportation, and now you can use it to save money at a growing network of local businesses! You don't have to be tempted to use an HOURCAR (if you don't want to), as most of them are an easy walk, bike ride or bus trip from our hubs. Just show your key fob and let the savings begin! Here are our current partners; and keep an eye on the Hubcap blog for more. And in the vein of social media, we'll provide links to a bunch of their Facebook pages so you can be a "fan" of theirs. (You're already a fan of HOURCAR, right? Good.)

Jerabeks New Bohemian Coffee House
63 West Winifred Street, Saint Paul.
(Jerebeks on Facebook)
Offer: 10% off with key fob in addition to 10% with your own cup



Common Good Books
165 Western Avenue, Saint Paul.
(Common Good Books on Facebook)
Offer: 10% off any item except magazines, newspapers, and specialty items


Bryant Lake Bowl
810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis.
(Bryant Lake Bowl on Facebook)
Offer: Buy 1 game of bowling, get 1 free. Up to 3 games at one visit. Shoe rental included.


Red Stag Supper Club
509 1st Avenue NE, Minneapolis.
(Red Stag on Facebook)
Offer: Complimentary Happy Hour Drink anytime. 1 drink per guest per visit. Includes select wine, taps, and specialty cocktails.


Park Square Theatre
20 W 7th Place, Saint Paul.
(Park Square on Facebook)
Offer: $10 off any adult ticket for any performance


Bibelot Shops
in Saint Paul: Grand & Lexington, Saint Anthony Park
in Minneapolis: Linden Hills, Northeast
(Bibelot Shops on Facebook)
Offer: 20% off one item. (Cannot be combined with any other coupon or discount.)


Anodyne Coffee House
4301 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis
Offer: Buy 1, get 1 half off PLUS 10% with your own cup



Everyday People Clothing Exchange
1599 Selby Avenue, Saint Paul
Offer: 15% off total purchase


Fast and Furless
2615 E Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis
Offer: 10% off


History Theatre
30 E. 10th Street, Saint Paul
(History Theatre on Facebook)
Offer: $5 off a regular priced ticket for 2009-2010 season (Cannot be combined with any other discount)


Events throughout the Twin Cities
Offer: $5 off your first event

Solar comes to Minneapolis

Whilst the HOURCAR at the 46th Light Rail Station is not yet a plug in Hybrid (look for it in the next couple of weeks) the solar panels at the station are up. For now, and whenever the 46th Street LRT car is out on the road, the panels will feed power back in to the grid to power nearby things like, oh, the light rail!

We had an event with Mayor Rybak and Representative Frank Hornstein (60B) and we will have pictures from that soon!


The HOURCAR in front of the Metro Transit building which has 2kV of solar capacity on the roof.


A closeup of the building.


When not powering the HOURCAR, the panels feed in to the grid, helping to power various local users, including the Hiawatha Line!

And if you think that a few car-powering solar panels can't come close to running the LRT, well, you're partially right. We can't run the whole line. But light rail trains are very efficient (you can see a long website which compares different transportation modes here) so we'd make a dent. For example:

The Combino light rail vehicle [similar in size to the Hiawatha Line] is about the same energy efficiency as a Porsche Carrera GT; the Porsche seats 2, the Combino seats 67 and can carry 180. The efficiency advantage is huge, though the Porsche obviously accelerates better and has a higher top speed!

Obviously a Prius is more efficient than a Porsche. But when you are on the Light Rail, you're in a vehicle as powerful as a sports car, but which carries 50-100 times as many people! That's efficient.