car2go – a SMART idea.

By now most of you have seen the army of blue & white Smart cars that have invaded our fair city. They are an integral part of car2go, an initiative that began during 2008 in Ulm, Germany and has spread to fifteen other cities. Their goal is simple – to provide easily accessible and affordable private transportation to city dwellers that do not own a vehicle.

Unlike a traditional car rental arrangement, car2go not only allows you to reserve a car, but you can simply walk up to the closest car, hold your member card up to the windshield card reader, get in, and go. Where you drive to and for how long is up to you. Once the need for the car is over, just park it in any designated parking location, residential curbside spot, or on-street ParkPlus spot within their Home Area.

With a comprehensive list of features (such as fuel, parking, insurance, & GPS navigation to name a few) included in the rental price, billing is calculated down to the minute of car usage making the experience more akin to the using a pay-as-you-go cell phone plan.

As factors such as fuel costs, the inherent hassle/expense of car ownership, and environmental awareness add increasing pressure on the average urbanite, car2go appears to be a “smart” transportation alternative appearing at the right time.

Quick Facts:

-       Membership Fee of $35 (one time only)

-       Rental rate of $0.35/min, hour usage of $12.99 & day usage of $65.99 (tax not included)

-       Once 200 km during a single rental session is reached, every km after is $0.45 + tax

-       Your membership allows you to use car2go in other car2go cities within your country (car2go is working towards continental & global access eventually)

For more information, please visit the car2go website www.car2go.com