Car2Go Is Now Going Official In Texas

Thanks to German company Car2Go, Austin Texas should be seeing SmartCars in a new light. The year old pilot program will be expanded in the car-sharing service to all city and state officials in Austin. Car2Go is a car-sharing service that charges users by the minute for use of SmartCars, a model that is becoming increasingly popular in large cities.

How to work Car2Go

A car sharing system that places a large number of cars in an urban area is called Car2Go. Anyone who is a “member” of Car2Go can rent cars with their smart car by the minute. Anywhere within the Car2Go area, the Car2Go car 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 car, but occasionally have need of one.

ZipCar vs. Car2Go

As an American company, founded in 2000, ZipCar is currently operating in 49 U.S. cities as well as in Toronto, London, and Vancouver. After getting Flexcar in 2007, ZipCar represented about 50 percent of the car sharing in the world. Much like Car2Go, ZipCar relies on “members” that use a membership card to unlock and rent ZipCars. ZipCar also works with universities and businesses to help students and commuters part-time that want to have help sharing their vehicles.

Benefits of car sharing

ZipCar and Car2Go represent just two of the large number of car-sharing services in the US and around the world. Cities in the US such as Minneapolis-Saint Paul ,Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Denver, New York City, Boulder, San Francisco, and Buffalo have all started a car-sharing business. The car-sharing systems increase flexibility, reduce congestion, and rend to be more environmentally friendly. Also, large fleets of vehicles 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.