xcel
08-27-2006, 12:09 PM
CityWheels rents Hybrid cars in Cleveland, Oberlin to people who occasionally need ride. (http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15373855.htm)
Bob Downing - Beacon Journal - August 27, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Prius-II_Car_Sharing_Program.jpg
McKenzie's fleet consists of two 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks.
CLEVELAND - Chris Trepal has become a firm believer in car sharing.
''It's wonderful,'' she says. ''It's easy to use. We haven't found a downside yet. It's made a big change in our small office.''
Trepal is director of the Earth Day Coalition. She and her five fellow eco-group employees now rent CityWheels vehicles several times a week to get to meetings around the Cleveland area.
Since they don't have to use their own cars on the job, Trepal says, staffers can bicycle or take buses to work - an environmental plus.
CityWheels LLC began operating in Oberlin in February and expanded to Cleveland in March. The company has two cars in each location.
Company President Ryan McKenzie says his operation is designed to be an alternative urban transportation option.
CityWheels offers hourly use of neighborhood-based cars for people who don't have their own vehicles or for families who may temporarily need another vehicle.
It's a system that works best, McKenzie says, for people who don't need a car to commute to and from work and for anyone who drives less than 15,000 miles a year.
The 78 CityWheels members typically rent the cars for five to 15 hours a month, he says. Oberlin College students may use the cars to drive into Cleveland and its suburbs for concerts and shopping trips and to go to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to pick up friends. Families may use the vehicles to get to doctors' offices and other appointments.
McKenzie's fleet consists of two 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks and two 2006 Toyota Scion xBs. CityWheels is painted on the side of the vehicles.
CityWheels is one of 19 similar car-sharing operations across the United States. The first began in 1998 in Portland, Ore.
One of the largest operations is Massachusetts-based Zipcar, which claims 65,000 members and 1,600 vehicles in seven markets, including Boston, New York and Chicago.
Seattle-based Flexcar operates in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its investors include American Online co-founder Steve Case and former auto industry executive Lee Iacocca.
Plans to expand
One of CityWheels' two Cleveland-area-based vehicles is on the west side, and the other is in the Coventry section of Cleveland Heights. In the coming weeks, McKenzie plans to move into the University Circle area as well.
Within the next year, he hopes to expand to 30 vehicles, with growth into Akron and Kent. Other vehicles could be based in downtown Cleveland, Playhouse Square, Shaker Square, Lakewood, Parma, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, and around Cleveland State and John Carroll universities.
In three years, he would like to have close to 100 vehicles in 10 Northeast Ohio counties.
McKenzie envisions a fleet with pickup trucks, minivans and two-seater convertibles.
''I want it to be fun as well as environmentally friendly,'' he says.
Research shows that one shared car can remove eight or more cars from the road, he says, and that reduces traffic and air pollution.
The 35-year-old McKenzie previously worked as a transportation planner for EcoCity Cleveland, an environmental organization that got a $30,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation to investigate setting up a car-sharing program in Northeast Ohio.
Such an operation was deemed feasible, so McKenzie took the plunge, investing $80,000 of his own money to purchase the four vehicles.
Trend toward sharing
He doesn't view CityWheels as competition to car-rental companies.
Renting a CityWheels vehicle for 10 hours a month would cost about $960 a year, he says, compared with nearly $6,000 in costs to own a vehicle.
Pat Farrell, a spokesman for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, says operations such as CityWheels will have little impact on big commercial rental operations.
The St. Louis-based Enterprise has 667,000 vehicles at 6,500 locations and annual sales of $9 billion, he says. The company initially catered to people whose cars were being repaired.
Car sharing is indicative of a U.S. trend: Farrell says rentals of nonairport cars have grown from $2 billion in 1991 to $10 billion in 2006.
McKenzie says he's a little disappointed that his operation still has only four vehicles.
The biggest problem, he says, has been getting the word out about CityWheels.
One person who got the word - and signed up - is 21-year-old Oberlin College student Andy Barnett.
He and three friends rent a CityWheels vehicle every Sunday to get themselves and their instruments to Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, where they stage jazz services.
''It's an excellent company,'' Barnett says, ''... that's doing good things.''
Bob Downing - Beacon Journal - August 27, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Prius-II_Car_Sharing_Program.jpg
McKenzie's fleet consists of two 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks.
CLEVELAND - Chris Trepal has become a firm believer in car sharing.
''It's wonderful,'' she says. ''It's easy to use. We haven't found a downside yet. It's made a big change in our small office.''
Trepal is director of the Earth Day Coalition. She and her five fellow eco-group employees now rent CityWheels vehicles several times a week to get to meetings around the Cleveland area.
Since they don't have to use their own cars on the job, Trepal says, staffers can bicycle or take buses to work - an environmental plus.
CityWheels LLC began operating in Oberlin in February and expanded to Cleveland in March. The company has two cars in each location.
Company President Ryan McKenzie says his operation is designed to be an alternative urban transportation option.
CityWheels offers hourly use of neighborhood-based cars for people who don't have their own vehicles or for families who may temporarily need another vehicle.
It's a system that works best, McKenzie says, for people who don't need a car to commute to and from work and for anyone who drives less than 15,000 miles a year.
The 78 CityWheels members typically rent the cars for five to 15 hours a month, he says. Oberlin College students may use the cars to drive into Cleveland and its suburbs for concerts and shopping trips and to go to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to pick up friends. Families may use the vehicles to get to doctors' offices and other appointments.
McKenzie's fleet consists of two 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks and two 2006 Toyota Scion xBs. CityWheels is painted on the side of the vehicles.
CityWheels is one of 19 similar car-sharing operations across the United States. The first began in 1998 in Portland, Ore.
One of the largest operations is Massachusetts-based Zipcar, which claims 65,000 members and 1,600 vehicles in seven markets, including Boston, New York and Chicago.
Seattle-based Flexcar operates in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its investors include American Online co-founder Steve Case and former auto industry executive Lee Iacocca.
Plans to expand
One of CityWheels' two Cleveland-area-based vehicles is on the west side, and the other is in the Coventry section of Cleveland Heights. In the coming weeks, McKenzie plans to move into the University Circle area as well.
Within the next year, he hopes to expand to 30 vehicles, with growth into Akron and Kent. Other vehicles could be based in downtown Cleveland, Playhouse Square, Shaker Square, Lakewood, Parma, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, and around Cleveland State and John Carroll universities.
In three years, he would like to have close to 100 vehicles in 10 Northeast Ohio counties.
McKenzie envisions a fleet with pickup trucks, minivans and two-seater convertibles.
''I want it to be fun as well as environmentally friendly,'' he says.
Research shows that one shared car can remove eight or more cars from the road, he says, and that reduces traffic and air pollution.
The 35-year-old McKenzie previously worked as a transportation planner for EcoCity Cleveland, an environmental organization that got a $30,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation to investigate setting up a car-sharing program in Northeast Ohio.
Such an operation was deemed feasible, so McKenzie took the plunge, investing $80,000 of his own money to purchase the four vehicles.
Trend toward sharing
He doesn't view CityWheels as competition to car-rental companies.
Renting a CityWheels vehicle for 10 hours a month would cost about $960 a year, he says, compared with nearly $6,000 in costs to own a vehicle.
Pat Farrell, a spokesman for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, says operations such as CityWheels will have little impact on big commercial rental operations.
The St. Louis-based Enterprise has 667,000 vehicles at 6,500 locations and annual sales of $9 billion, he says. The company initially catered to people whose cars were being repaired.
Car sharing is indicative of a U.S. trend: Farrell says rentals of nonairport cars have grown from $2 billion in 1991 to $10 billion in 2006.
McKenzie says he's a little disappointed that his operation still has only four vehicles.
The biggest problem, he says, has been getting the word out about CityWheels.
One person who got the word - and signed up - is 21-year-old Oberlin College student Andy Barnett.
He and three friends rent a CityWheels vehicle every Sunday to get themselves and their instruments to Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, where they stage jazz services.
''It's an excellent company,'' Barnett says, ''... that's doing good things.''