Zipcar, Flexcar to Merge

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

Photo of Capitol Hill residents Matt Clausen and Margarita Diaz heading toward a Zipcar in 2005 by Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post

TO REACH THE CAR RENTAL AREA at Union Station, you must walk about five minutes from the main concourse to the far back side of the upper parking garage over the rail yard. It's a long, desolate walk and the process of securing a car isn't always convenient. In fact, it took this writer about an hour last week to get his hands on a pre-reserved car from National Car Rental. If you're looking for a short-term rental, it's much easier to sign up with Zipcar or Flexcar, reserve a car online, walk up to the car stationed in your local neighborhood, wave your card, get inside and drive off.

Now, the nation's two largest car-sharing companies have plans to merge their operations and market their rental offerings to customers in areas where owning a car isn't always desirable, affordable or easy. As The Post's Thomas Heath reports, the details of merger have not been disclosed, but the move is putting traditional car rental agencies, which control the vast majority of the market, on the defensive. Enterprise and Hertz are getting into the hourly rental market. And Thrifty has announced it'll open two hourly rental locations in Manhattan.

For D.C., the Zipcar/Flexcar merger means that their joint presence could expand locally. And that might lead to more transportation options to those of us who don't own cars.

» "Zipcar and Flexcar Driven Together" [WaPo]