In light of the recent pivotal controversy involving government interaction in the shared economy, a new ecosystem has arrived, specifically focused on sharing government resources. MuniRent is a platform that makes it very easy for local governments to lease heavy duty equipment to other governments. Based out of Ann Arbor Michigan, MunitRent is one of few peer-to-peer platforms among businesses.
MuniRent.co
The site gives municipalities access to hundreds of pieces of equipment available with photos, machine specifications, and locations. "There are early adopters who are excited about the sharing economy coming to the government level," says CEO Alan Mond. "Our vision is to be the hub for collaborative government."
The potential for both parties is cost. MuniRent claims that renters can give equipment up to 70% cheaper than on the open market, and the renting municipality can use the cash to offset equipment upkeep.
FastCoExist's Ben Schiller spoke with CEO Alan Mond who reckons that governments are more likely to share than businesses, because, aside from political differences, they don't compete. "If you have two construction companies, one of them may not want to rent a crane to the other one. Governments are all trying to do sewer maintenance on reduced budgets. They're not competing. They just happen to be in different jurisdictions," he says.
It's incredible to see the government get involved in the collaborative economy to save the taxpayer dollar. We'd be interested to see if they'll continue this onto other services as well, and if their involvement will cause them to alter current views on sharing economy policy.
Check out the full article on MuniRent in FastCoExist and let us know what you think. Where else could the government benefit from sharing economy platforms?