Thanks to German business Car2Go, Austin Texas should be seeing SmartCars in a new light. The year old pilot program could be expanded in 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 more popular in larger cities.
How Car2Go works
Car2Go is a system in car-sharing that places a lot of cars in one urban area. Those who are “members” of Car2Go can use a intelligent card to rent cars by the minute. Anywhere within the Car2Go area, the Car2Go automobile can be picked up or dropped off. At about 35 cents per minute of rental, the Car2Go system bridges the gap for urban residents that do not have a automobile, but occasionally have need of one.
Car2Go or ZipCar
As an American business, founded in 2000, ZipCar is at the moment operating in 49 U.S. cities as well as in Toronto, London, and Vancouver. After acquiring Flexcar in 2007, ZipCar represents about 50 percent of car-sharing around the world. ZipCar relies on “members” that use the membership card to unlock and rent ZipCars just like Cars2Go. ZipCar is also partnered with many universities and companies that want to help commuters and students time-share their vehicles.
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, NYC, Denver, Salt Lake City, all have start-up auto sharing networks. The car-sharing systems increase flexibility, reduce congestion, and rend to be more environmentally friendly. Also, large companies such as Car2Go and ZipCar will use electric and hybrid cars which will increase the overall fuel efficiency for hundreds of people in each city.
