New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city is partnering with Zipcar for the city's first official car sharing program.
The cars can be reserved by the government employees and the public just like the rest of Zipcar's fleet, through an online reservation system. But even the reservation system is smart: A smaller number of cars will be available during peak traffic times, to encourage drivers to take their trips in less congested hours of the day.
Not having to purchase or maintain cars means tremendous savings for the city—the press release estimates that they'll save more than $500,000 over four years. In fact, New York's government has already worked to reduce the ratio of cars-to-employees, selling 750 cars from public agencies last year. The concept has worked well in other cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. and if all goes well in New York, they hope to expand the program to other departments.