According to the NY Times, car sharing programs like Zipcar are thriving in several big cities, and are on track to expand into more cities in the coming year:
ZipCar plans to start service in Chicago and Philadelphia in 2006 and has eyes on Seattle, Portland, Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Flexcar, which already has a partnership with a nonprofit car operator in Chicago, will next go to Atlanta; Austin, Tex.; Boston; and New York City.
Conrad Wagner, a founder of Mobility Switzerland, the biggest and most successful car-sharing business in Europe, expressed surprise at the expansion plans, noting that it took a decade for his company to reach a similar stride.
Mr. Wagner said sharing may be an even better business in the United States because Americans have fewer transportation alternatives than Europeans do.
But he is also wary about the intense competition among ZipCar, Flexcar and local nonprofit operators like City CarShare in San Francisco. Mobility is Switzerland's only car-sharing company, after having acquired various rivals.
"I hope they won't kill themselves by going down a pricing spiral," Mr. Wagner said in a telephone interview from Stans, Switzerland.
Car-sharing executives say they have not resorted to price wars, at least thus far. They are, however, already offering perks like free satellite radio, iPod connections and access to convertible Mini Coopers.
In the meantime, said Lance Ayrault, Flexcar's chief executive, car sharing's biggest challenge is simple: "Not enough people know what it is."
I live in philly...something like this would be great there.
Posted by: Philly | December 11, 2005 at 10:38 AM