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Own nothing: Hill bike rental entrepreneur, $750k for bike share, Car2Go launch

  • A Capitol Hill entrepreneur is trying to change the market for bike rentals in the city.

From the Seattle Bike Blog:

There are several places in town where you can rent a bike to ride around town for the day. But at $30/day and up, bike rental fees add up quickly if you need a ride for a week or more. That’s where Lucas Nivon, founder of Seattle Monthly Bike Rental, comes in.


“I did some research to try to figure out why [such a service] didn’t exist, so I just decided to do it,” said Nivon. For as low as $80/week or $120/month, Nivon will bring a bike to you anywhere within the city limits (must reserve 24 hours in advance). When your rental is over, he’ll come pick it up. 

  • WSDOT has come through with an important piece of funding for the Puget Sound Bike Share program CHS reported on earlier this year.

The Washington State Department of Transportation Pedestrian and Bicycle Program has recommended that King County Metro Transit receive a grant of $750,000 to fund Puget Sound Bike Share’s initial construction of a regional bike share network.  The grant recommendation comes as Puget Sound BikeShare begins recruiting corporations, nonprofits, foundations and individuals to sign on as bike share sponsors.

“This grant is a major step towards launching the program and is great news,” a representative tells CHS. “Next step is for legislature to approve the recommendations and for our work to begin.”

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zipper
11 years ago

I don’t think zipcar has anything to worry about. I’m a zipcar user and I’ll also be a car2go user. I’m excited about the new service and sometimes you just need to get a few blocks and that’s what it’s going to be great for. It’s another mode of transport to supplement those of us w/o cars. Cost wise, hour to hour though, it appears car2go is more expensive for the most part, so I don’t see myself using car2go for more than the short one way jaunts.

Del
Del
11 years ago

Car2Go offers one-way trips, which I like. I want to pick up a car, drive it to work, stop paying for it, then pick up another to drive home. Zipcar doesn’t offer this.

Eric
Eric
11 years ago

I used Car2Go yesterday and really liked that I could just park it at my final destination rather than having to return it to the same spot I got it from. And you can park them in so many spots it is fairly easy to find a space with the cars being so small. That said I would not want to use Car2Go for more than running errands and shopping within the city. Anything more than that I would get a Zipcar, or any freeway travel. Those smart cars would not be fun next to a big semi in the rain on I-5!

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[…] one-way car sharing service Car2Go won an expansion of its Seattle business this weeks as the City Council voted on Monday to approve a 45% in the service’s fleet and the […]