A guy’s relationship with his car is complicated. Early on, it’s usually passionate, intense — even dangerous. Eventually it becomes burdensome, expensive, rusty, and full of loathsome regret. Not so with Car2go. Making its Toronto debut on June 30, the innovative car share program offers its members the transit equivalent of a one-night stand, or even a one-minute stand (shame-free), depending on how far you want to go with your vehicle.

Already popular in Vancouver, and omni-cool cities like Amsterdam and Berlin, Car2go is the only car share program in the country that allows you to pay by the minute. Members can pick up or drop off their rented vehicles anywhere, anytime, so long as they do it within the designated Car2go zone. It’s affordable too: the average thirty-minute rental comes out to just over ten dollars.

The whole Car2go mechanism in Toronto is powered by an army of 250 Smart Fortwos, those bugger-looking, low emission toy cars that finagle into parking spots once thought only available for Vespas and Tonka trucks.

The hype surrounding Car2go is fuelled by the new “I-can-do-better-than-the-TTC” attitude in Toronto. After decades of inertial policy tragedy, and the current (“subways, subways, subways”) tunnel vision from the powers that be, Torontonians, and we suspect most Canadians, are ready for a new approach to transportation — one that’s non-committal, functional, and urban. Bixis, not taxis; Zipcars, not streetcars.

Sometimes the “better way” is not the only way.