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Zipcar, the world's largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day, has created a partnership with Seattle providing all city employees access to its car sharing service.
The partnership extends the benefits of car sharing to all 10,500 individuals employed by the city of Seattle, enabling city employees to take alternate transit to work and know they have access to a car at the office for personal or business trips. Within just 10 blocks of City Hall, more than 60 Zipcars reside in nearby garages and on-street parking spots, according to Zipcar. Zipcar rates include gas, insurance, maintenance and 180 free miles per day.
"By offering car sharing, we're providing more flexibility and making it easier for city employees to choose mass transit, walk, bike or use other transportation alternatives," says Mayor Greg Nickels. "It is another way Seattle is encouraging more climate-friendly commutes."
Offering Zipcar memberships is an addition to the city of Seattle's Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program, which encourages employees to leave their car at home and instead use public transit, walk, bike or carpool to work. The city currently offers a $72 monthly transit subsidy to encourage its employees to not drive to work. More than 3,500 city employees already take part in this commuter benefit.
"This partnership gives city employees the freedom to choose from the region's wide variety of alternative transportation options for their commute to work," says Carla Archambault, General Manager of Zipcar Seattle. "Zipcar is a perfect complement to the City's national leadership efforts for emissions reduction, sustainable development and smart growth."
The partnership is borne out of the fact that car sharing programs increase public transit ridership and decrease vehicle ownership and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). In a 2008 survey in Seattle 50 percent of respondents said they increased their public transit usage since joining Zipcar, the company reports. National surveys conducted by Zipcar consistently show that more than 50 percent of members sell or avoid buying a car, and reduce vehicle miles traveled by nearly 40 percent. In Seattle, this represents an annual reduction of 2,623,620 gallons of gas and 25,449 tons of carbon dioxide.
Coming off one of the highest growth years in company history, and in planning for continued growth, Zipcar also announced it has relocated to new offices in downtown at 380 Union St. -- space that was previously occupied by the Washington State Department of Licensing.
"The opening of our new downtown office makes it easier than ever for existing and prospective members to meet the Seattle team, and learn about the benefits of car sharing," states Archambault. "In addition to our partnership with the City and our new office, we're seeing strong demand from both businesses and consumers who are seeking convenient, cost effective and environmentally friendly transportation alternatives."
For more information, visit www.Zipcar.com.
