Flexcar Seattle: Drive in Five

1 December 2005

The Seattle branch of Flexcar is asserting that it now has enough locations in the downtown area that potential drivers are never more than a five-minute walk from a vehicle.

The company has accordingly launched a “Drive in Five” promotional campaign. New members who join before New Year’s eve and take a trip within five weeks will qualify for a free application and free membership for the first year.

Details are available on the Flexcar website at www.flexcar.com/seattle.

Flexcar’s car sharing program provides its members with on-demand access to a fleet of low-emission vehicles—including hybrids—throughout Seattle and King County.

Members reserve the vehicles for hourly use with Flexcar covering the cost of the car, gas, parking, insurance and maintenance.

Locally, the fleet now stands at more than 150 vehicles en route and will reach 175 by year’s end.

There are more than 14,000 individual and business members of Flexcar in the Seattle region, including some of the largest employers such as Starbucks Coffee Company, Nintendo, the University of Washington and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.

Research from Flexcar as well as independent entities has clearly shown that carsharing programs take cars off the road, reduce annual miles traveled and increase the use of public transit. These studies indicate that roughly 60% of members have either sold or decided not to purchase a vehicle because of the program, thus removing thousands of vehicles and thousands of tons of emissions from circulation.