The United States Census Bureau reports that the average American spends 26 minutes getting to work. Any native New Yorker can tell you that the five boroughs can be pretty difficult to navigate.
While most Manhattan and Brooklyn stops are connected via subway lines, getting to areas like the Bronx and Queens proves near impossible at times. And with constant changes in service, delays, and just plain confusion, leaving your borough can be an intimidating and downright inconvenient thing to do.
Yet one car sharing company is out to change that.
Meet Car2go. The idea for the company was first conceived by Daimler AG, the German auto giant, and first launched business in Austin in 2010. Since, the Car2go has added 10 locations and is seeing great success wherever they open — especially Brooklyn.
While similar to other short-term car rental services, such as ZipCar, Car2go is a one-way service. This means that a driver can go from Prospect Park to Queens and leave the car in any spot, so long as it is within the parameters of Car2go’s designated “home base.”
The cars are small, perhaps uncomfortable so, leaving room for two passengers. This puts city drivers at an advantage, however, because it allows them to maneuver through traffic without much difficulty.
According to Crain’s New York Business, the service is available in Brooklyn and will soon debut in Queens. Eventually, explains Paul DeLong, chief exectutive of Cars2go, the business hopes to expand to all five boroughs.
And based on the explosive growth Cars2go is seeing in Brooklyn, the process is very likely.
“We’re nine months in, and we see the adoption,” DeLong said. “We want to continue that snowball”.
Cars2go is appealing to New Yorkers because of its low prices. Getting from Brooklyn to Queens costs approximately $13 using Cars2go, a fee that’s usually doubled with transportation services such as Uber.
And forget about driving your own car. Even though 75% of new car purchases by 2025 are predicted to be purchased by generation Y, you won’t find that happening in the city. Keeping a car in any of the five boroughs can be dangerous, inconvenient and expensive.
