The problem with coworking space, at least here in Manchester (UK), is that it's inflexible and expensive. If I could pay something like £20 for a day, without any subscription attached, and get free coffee, I'd use it a lot. As it is, you have to pay for weeks or months in advance (and more like £30 to £50 per day), so I might as well go to the coffee shop whenever I feel like.
I like your plan, but I think you need a steady subscription cost. This subscription has the two fold advantage of giving the space a predictable income, and it makes the spaces participants less likely to engage in "not my problem" usage of the space itself, ala tragedy of the commons.
A hybrid system like what zipcar uses might work well. A small yearly membership rate (roughly £50/year) + reduced £15/day usage rate. Best of both worlds.
How would you feel about a credit-based hourly system? I.e., you put in £40 to your account, and you pay £2-£3 an hour for a desk which you can book a day or two in advance. Then you can order coffee from your desk which comes out of your account (but is, of course, cheaper than if you bought it using a card)?
Just have a day-rate. Fill cards up with $100 or whatever, and it's $20/day (or whatever), come and go as you like. Like a transit card more than ZipCar.
$20 still seems like a reasonable price for that. It would be more that the all-day'ers are getting a better deal. I'm sure prices would equalize regardless, and those who don't want to pay can continue their coffee-shop campouts.
I've been to a few places like this (not US). You pay per hour and do whatever you want. Some snacks are usually free. At one place coffee was free as well, though you operate the coffee machine yourself.
I found those “open spaces” enjoyable but not optimal for work. People mostly come there to spend their leisure time, and they tend to gather in larger groups and behave noisier compared to coffee shops. This can be distracting, although perhaps not if you yourself are with a group of coworkers. Sometimes such places host small-scale art events (I imagine they aren't very profitable otherwise), so you have to adapt to their schedule.
A library is a better place, when it has good Wi-Fi and is generally well-maintained.
If you're near a University, check out their library. Most of the time they'll have a cafe, guest wifi, and a reasonable amount of white noise for a library.
Yep. I live a mile and a half away from a university and I use their library for working on side projects. I've found it to be a great place for helping me focus.
Years of schooling have programmed me to think that the library is where you go to be serious about getting work done, and I'm often more effective there than if I sit at my desk at home.
I've written to my local library organization suggesting cafe areas in some of the bigger libraries. Never heard back, but I really hope they think about it. It could raise some money and improve patronage. The local library is much more convenient for me than the coffee shop, but I need to be eating/drinking when I'm working on something.
I was surprised when I found that the library close to my place in London (at Swiss Cottage) has a cafe inside and seems to have a relax policy on eating snacks inside the library.
They also appear to let you bring your own food and drinks. I've seen moms break out a box of Capri Suns to give to their herd of children and people unwrap a footlong from Subway in the Barnes and Noble Cafe.
I've worked from a library a few times recently. Security is important, but there are libraries that don't have this problem (might depend on the country, though).
Other points I personally regard as features that help me focus. If wanted to get some food, I'd go to a café. To meet someone in person or make calls, an open space (if there isn't any, a café) is a decent option. But if I want to concentrate on something for a couple of hours, I personally go to a library.
Depends if they can handle the infrastructure though. Auckland Central Library in NZ was right next to two universities which meant that during the day all seats were taken up by students and the internet slowed to barely able to connect. Newcastle Library here in the UK has such iffy internet that you can barely connect.
This hasn't been a problem in my experience in Chicago (and to a much greater extent Oak Park). In both, there were lots of homeless people around the library --- but they weren't at the same table as you, and they didn't disrupt anything.