City Authorizes Smart-Car Based Car-Share Program

City of Austin

At last night's meeting, the city council approved a 200-vehicle car-share pilot program with car2go, Daimler’s smart-car based car-share initiative. At the same time, council members approved the purchase of 15 bikes for city employees to use for business needs or during lunch.

The car-sharing program is the largest of its kind in the country. During the six-month pilot program, the city will offer on-street and off-street parking spaces for the car-share vehicles in exchange for an equivalent amount of car2go driving time for work-related use by city employees.

The bike-sharing program comes as part of Mayor Will Wynn's Austin Climate Protection Plan. The bikes can be checked out by employees for quick trips around downtown.