Without that vital visibility, going in to a spin could be disastrous.

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Pouring rain kept me away from a nice ride-and-drive opportunity with the New York Power Authority, which wanted to showcase a healthy and growing fleet, and Monday I made it down to Times Square to take a spin in the green cars that, as of next week will be available in the Connect by Hertz car-sharing fleets.

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Another would be to slow a pulsar's spin down in pretty short order.

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When I gave it a spin in Manhattan and Brooklyn, service tended to be pretty fast, though speed and reliability could vary in your hometown.

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They offer a guided cicheti crawl to the bacari, or bars where you can sample the unique small plates that are the Venetian spin on tapas, in a way that would be hard to do without local accompaniment.

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