Monday, April 19, 2010

In Austin Texas, Car2Go is going official

zipcar1-300x200Thanks to German business Car2Go, Austin Texas should be seeing SmartCars in a new light. The year old pilot program will be expanded within the car-sharing service to all city and state officials in Austin. Car2Go is a service in the car-sharing business that charges users by the minute for use of the SmartCars, which is a model that is becoming a lot more and a lot more popular in larger cities.

Car2Go and how it works

Car2Go is a system in car-sharing that places various cars in one urban area. Anyone who’s a "member" of Car2Go can rent cars with their smart vehicle by the minute. Car2Go cars can be picked up or dropped off within the Car2Go area. With 35 cents per minute rental, Car2Go bridges the gap for urban residents that don't have a car but need one occasionally.

Car2Go vs. ZipCar

ZipCar, presently operating in 49 U.S. cities as well as in Vancouver, Toronto, and London, is an American business, founded in 2000. After getting the Flexcar on board in 2007, ZipCar had about 50 percent of the automobile sharing in their hands. ZipCar relies on "members" that use the membership card to unlock and rent ZipCars just like Cars2Go. ZipCar also has partnerships with numerous U.S. companies and universities that help students and commuters time-share their automobiles.

The Benefits of sharing cars

ZipCar and Car2Go are just two companies that both are part of the growing number of car-sharing services being offered within the US and around the world. Several large cities around the United States, including Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Buffalo, San Francisco, Boulder, New York City, Denver, Salt Lake City, all have start-up auto sharing networks. The car-sharing systems increase flexibility, reduce congestion, and rend to be a lot more environmentally friendly. Also, large fleets of cars like ZipCar and Car2Go tend to use hybrid and electric cars, which will increase the overall fuel efficiency for hundreds of drivers in each city.



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