Car-Sharing
Streetsblog Basics
As Car2Go Eyes NYC, Will DOT Put a Price on Curbside Parking?
Many New Yorkers are familiar with car-sharing services -- like Zipcar, Hertz Connect, Enterprise CarShare, and Carpingo -- that charge by the hour or day, with a reserved space where customers must start and finish a round-trip rental. Daimler-owned Car2Go operates differently: it charges by the minute or hour, and is focused on one-way rentals, allowing users to return a car to any on-street space within the company's service area. The company, already operating in ten North American markets, is eyeing New York.
July 31, 2013
Avis Acquires Zipcar: What Are the Implications?
In a sign of the increasing market for car-sharing, Avis car rental is expected to purchase Zipcar today for a tidy $500 million. With the acquisition, the car rental giant will begin offering short-term car rentals, as have competitors Global and Enterprise.
January 2, 2013
Moving Beyond the Automobile: Car-Sharing
In the third episode of our Moving Beyond the Automobile series, Streetfilms takes a look at a more efficient way to use cars. Unlike owning a car, which involves a large upfront purchase and low costs per trip, car-sharing allows people to evaluate the full cost of each car trip. When car-share members choose whether to drive, take transit, walk, or bike, the incentives guide them toward the most appropriate mode for that specific trip. Driving half a mile to pick up some milk starts to make a lot less sense.
March 3, 2011
50 DOT Fleet Vehicles Replaced By 25 Zipcars
The Department of Transportation will soon be using Zipcars instead of city-owned vehicles, Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced at a press conference yesterday. The initiative is intended to reduce unnecessary driving by DOT employees and could yield significant savings if expanded to the city's entire passenger vehicle fleet. Symbolically, the city is also sending a message that owning a car might not be a wise financial decision.
October 13, 2010
Going Car-Free? It’s On Us, Says Hoboken
When it comes to getting people to give up their cars, Hoboken is taking the direct approach. If you give up your parking permit, and with it your car, Hoboken will give you rewards worth more than $500.
October 6, 2010
City Council Embraces Car-Sharing, But Parking Requirements Remain
Attempts to expand car-sharing in New York City got a big boost yesterday when the City Council passed a measure intended to help companies store shared cars. The near-unanimous vote opens the door for businesses that have been shown to reduce car-ownership and driving in other cities. Neither the City Council nor the City Planning Commission, however, took the opportunity to maximize the impact of car-sharing by linking it to reduced parking minimums.
September 30, 2010
City Seeks to Save By Reducing 26,000-Vehicle Municipal Fleet
With the city's budget battered by the economic crisis, the Bloomberg administration is looking for ways to reduce the cost of city government. One place they're turning: the city's fleet of 26,000 motor vehicles. The city announced last week that it expects to save $71 million by streamlining fleet management, including measures to cut fuel use and decrease the number of vehicles it owns. The city will also explore ways to use car-sharing to make the city's fleet more efficient.
July 26, 2010
Hoboken Launches First Citywide Car-Sharing Program in U.S.
Today marks the launch of what Hoboken officials are calling the first citywide car-sharing initiative in the country, with 42 shared cars parked on the streets of the mile-square city. The "Corner Cars" program, which is intended to reduce car-ownership rates, could provide a model for expanding car-sharing across the Hudson. What happens in Hoboken will demonstrate how much car-sharing can reduce traffic in areas where people already don't drive very much.
June 16, 2010
City Planning Promotes Car-Sharing, But Will It Reduce Driving?
Last week the Department of City Planning announced an initiative to promote car-sharing in New York City. The new zoning amendments remove some of the uncertainty for car-share companies by spelling out where shared cars can be stored. At a hearing on the proposed changes last Monday, one member of the planning commission suggested an additional step with big implications for livable streets -- tying car-share to reduced parking requirements -- but the planning department has declined to draft rules that go that far.
May 5, 2010