City car-share plan about to go public Austin American-Statesman
Those ubiquitous white-and-blue Smart cars in the City of Austin's nascent car-sharing program have spent a lot more time parked than rolling around Central Austin, based on statistics from the first three months of this year.
The general public, officials said Tuesday, soon will get a chance to get behind the wheel of the tiny two-seat cars.
The 125 cars in the stable provided for city employee use by car2go, a Daimler AG subsidiary, have been "leased" about 118 times each weekday since Jan. 1, meaning that on average, each car has been taken out once a day. The average time of usage has been about 71 minutes. The city, under a pilot program that began in November, does not actually pay Daimler when its workers use the cars on municipal business, so the statistics do not reflect what usage might be if there were money involved.
A Daimler official last year said that for the company to make a profit on a car-sharing program, each of the snub-nosed cars — they're 9 feet long and get 33 miles per gallon in city driving — would have to be rented at least four hours a day . The company covers the $16,000 cost of each car, plus fuel, maintenance and insurance. The company announced Tuesday that it will open up the program to the general public beginning May 21.
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