Zipcar Expands to London and Beyond

Originally published in The New York Times on 4/23/2010. Read the original here.

Zipcar members will soon be able to cross the Atlantic and unlock a fleet of cars parked throughout London and other cities in England.

Earlier this week, Zipcar, the car-sharing company based in Cambridge, Mass.,  that lets members reserve a car for one-hour slots, acquired Streetcar UK, a similar company based in London.

The acquisition will give Zipcar members access to the Streetcar’s 1,000 vehicles in Brighton, Southampton, Maidstone, Guildford, Cambridge, Oxford and London. Streetcar’s 80,000 members will also have access to Zipcar’s larger fleet in more than 50 North American cities and 100 campuses.

The transfer is expected to take months to complete. While the new vehicles are not yet bookable from Zipcar’s Web site, the company has set up another Web site, Zipcar UK, to answer questions.

The company says prices are not yet available, but Streetcar UK currently cost about £4.95 to £8.95 an hour, which is roughly in line with Zipcar’s rates, which cost about $7 to $15 an hour, depending on location, type of car and day of week.

Posted on May 29, 2010 to New York Times, Uncategorized
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