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New arrivals to Takoma Park and Silver Spring
provide transportation alternatives
by LISA MACKIE
Zipcar and Flexcar, two companies which provide car sharing
for hourly rates in urban areas, now offer service in Takoma
Park and Silver Spring. For an annual fee, members can reserve
cars for short-term uses, such as running errands.
Sharon Villines, a Takoma Village resident who made the initial
request to both companies, explained the process as working
something like this: "you pay an annual membership fee
of $20 [for Zipcar] and they send you an electronically coded
plastic card a bit thicker than a Metro SmartTrip card. It
has a hole so you can attach it to a key chain. You reserve
a specific car on the web or by phone—they have names
like Beetle Baggins, Civic Carmen, Jetta Jasmine, Focus Fox,
Prius Perez.
"At the reserved time, you place the card over a patch
on the car window, and the car unlocks. The key and credit
card to buy gas are in the car over the visor. You drive the
car and return it to the same spot, and lock up by placing
your plastic 'key' over the patch again."
Villines said that she contacted the companies in December
and January. She said the Zipcar was available around the
first week of April, after a suitable parking space had been
found.
"Flexcar took about the same amount of time to get a
car here, and they already had a parking spot guaranteed,
since they have the contract with the Metro," she added.
The Zipcar is parked at 1 Pine Avenue, between the new garden
store, Gazing Globe, and the Savory Caf?. It is named Focus
Farrah Wagon and costs about $8.50 per hour to rent. They
also have a car with similar pricing available in Silver Spring,
at the Lenox Park apartment building at the corner of East-West
Highway and Colesville Road.
Flexcars are parked at the Takoma and Silver Spring Metro
parking lots. They do not yet have an online reservation system.
"Each Zipcar replaces 7 to 10 privately owned cars,"
the company claims, and the system has a "positive environmental
impact." For more information, visit www.flexcar.com
or www.zipcar.com.
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