City Panel Approves Expanding Car Sharing to Hollywood, Could Start in November

Photo by La Citta Vita via Flickr

Photo by La Citta Vita via Flickr
By November, a small car sharing program run by Zipcar could be up and running in Hollywood near Metro Red Line stations. On Wednesday, a city panel recommended the full City Council approve moving the concept beyond the campus neighborhoods of UCLA and USC and try to fully integrate into a community.

The concept, however, is nothing new for Los Angeles. Car sharing, in which people can rent a car for a couple hours to a full day from a city on- or off-street parking space, used to have a larger presence in town. A company called Flexcar had a good number of vehicles throughout the Los Angeles basin before Zipcar bought the company and depleted the fleet, angering those who had fully integrated car sharing into their car-free habits.

Zipcar said back then that the Los Angeles program was not financially viable, but now is ever-so-slowly testing on-street parking with the City Hall (they also have programs at Caltech and Occidental College). Currently there are a number of spaces around the two campuses, but this would be the first time -- at least in this version of their L.A. program -- they try car sharing away from the university setting and in a mixed use neighborhood near a transit station.

Meanwhile, another car sharing company called LAX CarShare has a handful of locations in Culver City, downtown L.A., Santa Monica and Venice. Next up for them is West Hollywood.

Previously: Car Sharing Should Expand to Hollywood, Recommends City Report