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Mayor Villaraigosa stands with Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz at yesterday's Zipcar expansion announcement
Car sharing service Flexcar, since bought by Zipcar, was an exciting thing for Los Angeles. If you lived near a Zipcar parking space, you could take the car out for errands and the such if you were a member. But management found Los Angeles was a difficult market for such a program and pared it down to 14 cars around USC and UCLA campuses.
Then yesterday, a pilot partnership with the city of Los Angeles was launched, adding 12 cars to the fleet with a hope of more to come. "Los Angeles may be the car capital of the world, but through this partnership among universities, Zipcar and the City of Los Angeles we are opening the door to make car ownership optional for people who live or work here," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "Providing alternatives to car ownership will help improve the environment and the city's traffic congestion."
It's a good start, but a lot more than 26 cars will be needed to improve congestion in this city, even though the company says each of their cars takes 15 and 20 personally owned vehicles off the road.
Zipcar vehicles are available by the hour or by the day to members, who can reserve a car via phone, online or a mobile device. A simple hourly/daily fee as low as $8/hour and $66/day weekdays, and $9/hour and $72/day weekends, includes parking in the reserved spot, gas, insurance, 180 free miles and 24/7 roadside assistance.
Two vehicles each will be located at the following locations, according to the LA Times:
• 32nd Street and University Avenue
• W. 29th Street and Orchard Avenue
• W. Adams and Portland Street
• Midvale and Rochester avenues
• Roebling and Levering avenues
• Strathmore Drive and Landfair avenue
Additionally, USC tomorrow will kick off a coal-free campaign, says the Sierra Club in a release today. "Students at University of Southern California will be releasing a report detailing USC’s coal usage and launching an effort to create coal-free campuses powered by 100% clean energy," the Sierra Club explains. "Students at USC will be launching a campaign to transition USC from 43% imported coal energy to 100% renewable energy. Moving USC to 100% renewable energy is part of a nationwide campaign, led by the Sierra Club, on more than 60 college campuses."
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This needs to grow much, much more rapidly. There was demand when they hijacked Flexcar, and took it away from anyone without a student ID. And the demand, though relatively small, is still very strong in the denser areas with a younger population, like the Westside. Certainly not Beverly Hills, but definitely Venice/SM area.
Come on Rosendahl!!
If there was a ZIPCar around Hollywood, I might actually give up my car. It sounds like you don't have much selection, though. If it were more like a rental lot, that would be sweet.