Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
There really should be more effort put into getting hire cars at stations - I reckon a lot of people would be interested in a Fiat 500 waiting as the train comes in, so you can pootle round the area without the long drive.
I certainly think there's room for the likes of Trainline to have a simple checkbox of "I'd like a Fiat 500 EV to be waiting, fully charged, for me when I arrive, and dropped off at the booked station/train time on my return". You'd probably need to add some additional information on your account (e.g. a driving licence copy) but once set up it would be as easy as that. Include full collision damage waiver etc, access being via a code on a touchpad, and with that remove all the classic customer unfriendly faffs that car hire companies like imposing.
Make it that easy and you may well sell more train journeys - hiring a car is, as I said, a massive faff.
(FWIW I've never tried but I reckon I'd probably fit a classic Mini - the steering wheel is pretty much horizontal as per a lorry, let alone a van!)