The announcement was made by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who believes Zipcar will support his efforts to make City government operations more efficient and more sustainable.
This also represents an important achievement for the growth of car sharing, by creating a smarter, more efficient transportation solution for city government and charting a direction for the future of urban development.
“Earlier this year, we announced a large-scale effort to make City government smaller, smarter, and more sustainable – both environmentally and fiscally," said Mayor Bloomberg. "An important component of that effort is looking at City-owned cars. A car share program could help reduce the number of cars we use, cut our costs, free up parking on our streets and reduce the congestion on our streets and the pollution in our air. It's another example of how we are constantly working on new ways to deliver better services at a lower cost to the taxpayer and to the environment."
Zipcar was selected as New York's first and only car sharing provider through a competitive bid process. The initial contract will serve DOT employees exclusively, supporting its Sustainable Streets program with the potential to expand to other agencies if the program performs as expected.
"Car sharing is an innovative way to do more with less and address the City's environmental and fleet-reduction goals," said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. "This strategy helps meet those goals while opening up curbside parking, and by letting the public use the same cars that we use, it helps stimulate the Lower Manhattan car share market."
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