Car-share programs heat up Chicago
Car-share programs, those unique memberships with around-the-clock access to cars parked throughout urban neighborhoods, is starting to look good as a profit enterprise. I-GO was started five years ago by a Chicago non-profit as an experiment. Now it has 80 vehicles and adds more than 200 new members a month.But there's also a for-profit car-sharing program called Zipcar that recently rolled into Chicago. Zipcar already has 110 cars in rotation and will double that number soon.
The competition in Chicago reflects a small but growing opportunity for car-share programs across the country. One researcher estimates just over 100,000 people share about 2,600 vehicles. Zipcar claims its members can save more than $435 month by using car sharing and not purchasing a car.
[Source: Lori Rackl / Chicago Sun Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Don 5:38PM (4/23/2007)
That's really interesting.
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Gershon Bialer 6:35PM (5/13/2007)
Actually, I think IGO has more cars than Zipcar. I think the numbers are around 150 for IGO and 100 for Zipcar.
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