[Sosfbay-discuss] Zipcar, Flexcar to merge car sharing businesses

[Tian Harter]

There was a pod in Mountain View, but it didn't get enough business to 
keep going. Now that I'm car free, I would take advantage of such a 
service. Every time I see the Zip Car people tabling I tell them "You 
should put a pod in Mountain View. Please join me in this movement!

Tian
Of course, once they put it in we'll have to patronize it...

Drew Johnson wrote:
> I would love it if we could talk Zipcar.com or City Carshare into
> returning car sharing to the southbay.  I think its very possible.
> 
> 
> Green is Core!
> 
> Drew
> 
> 
> Zipcar, Flexcar to merge car sharing businesses
> 
> Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
> 
> For the past two years, the Bay Area has been the most competitive market
> in the nascent but booming business of car sharing, with three companies
> charging residents to drive any of the hundreds of cars scattered around
> San Francisco and the East Bay.
> 
> But the competitive landscape is changing. Zipcar and Flexcar, the two
> largest and only nationwide car sharing companies, announced Tuesday night
> that they are merging. The new company will operate under the Zipcar brand
> and use its technology.
> 
> Car sharing businesses charge membership fees for round-the-clock access
> to fleets of vehicles spread across metropolitan areas. Members pay
> hourly, and sometimes per-mile, rates when they drive the cars. Gasoline
> and insurance are covered in the price.
> 
> While the effects of the merger are uncertain, company officials, industry
> experts and members say the move could help expand the practice of car
> sharing.
> 
> Scott Griffith, Zipcar's chief executive officer, hailed the merger as
> good for car sharing. Since the two firms have little overlap in
> locations, they said, the combined company will give members better access
> to more vehicles in more cities, and allow additional investments in
> technology, vehicles and expansion.
> 
> "This merger is a classical example of the whole being larger than the sum
> of its parts," he said.
> 
> San Francisco is one of two cities where both Zipcar and Flexcar operate.
> Washington is the other. City CarShare, a nonprofit group, brought car
> sharing to the Bay Area in 2001, and the two for-profit companies followed
> four years later.
> 
> City CarShare has 15,000 Bay Area members who share 230 vehicles; Zipcar
> has 12,000 members using a fleet of 430, according to company officials.
> Flexcar membership figures were not available, but the company has a fleet
> of 200 vehicles in the Bay Area.
> 
> Flexcar and Zipcar members said their concerns over shrinking competition
> would be outweighed by the increased access to cars - both in the Bay Area
> and in other cities served by the merged company.
> 
> "As a member, I think it's great," said Tara Hunt, 33, who owns an
> Internet marketing consulting business, lives in San Francisco and belongs
> to Zipcar. "I love competition, and there will still be competition with
> City CarShare, but this gives me more access to more cars in more
> neighborhoods."
> 
> She'll also have access in more cities around the United States, Canada
> and England. In addition to San Francisco and Washington, Zipcar operates
> in New York, Boston, Chicago, Vancouver, Toronto and London. Flexcar
> locations include Seattle, Portland, Ore., Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta
> and Pittsburgh. Both companies also provide car sharing on dozens of
> college campuses.
> 
> "It will be nice to have access in more cities," Hunt said. "I travel a lot."
> 
> Keith Kamisugi, a San Francisco publicist, belongs to both Flexcar and
> Zipcar, since one has more cars available near his home and the other has
> more available near his job.
> 
> "If they keep both companies' locations, it will be great for me," he
> said. "I'll get the best of both worlds."
> 
> Rick Hutchinson, chief executive officer of City CarShare, said he's not
> concerned that the merger will drive the nonprofit out of business.
> 
> "We've always been very supportive of anything that promotes car sharing
> in the Bay Area," he said, pointing out that City CarShare's membership
> and fleet have swelled since the two for-profit firms entered the market.
> "I wish all car share firms the best of luck. I just hope there's not too
> much disruption with the merger, trouble for members that would push them
> away from car sharing."
> 
> Susan Shaheen, a UC Berkeley researcher who focuses on the car sharing
> industry, said the merger should help the new company nationally in terms
> of economies of scale and marketing, as well as the San Francisco
> challenge of finding and leasing parking spaces in desirable locations.
> 
> Shaheen said the merger seems to be following the same road that car
> sharing traveled in Europe, where it's been popular for at least a decade:
> starting as a grassroots effort, moving into a growth and exploration
> phase, then attaining profitability. Dave Brook, a car sharing expert who
> founded a Portland car share firm that merged years ago with Flexcar,
> agreed.
> 
> "This is kind of a landmark," he said of the merger. "It's kind of funny
> to think of car sharing as an industry, but I guess it is now. A lot of
> people are going to be watching to see where it goes."
> 
> 
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-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Last evening I saw Mayor Macias of Mountain View sign the
Mayors Climate Change Protection Agreement in our City Hall.
Today's paper said the earthquake that followed was a 5.6.