Flexicar, Melbourne’s leading car sharing organisation, has embarked upon a major expansion program, growing its fleet by 10% through the addition of 14 new inner-city car share parks.
Car sharing is a growing global practice, enabling customers to rent vehicles for as little as one hour from allocated on-street parking locations. It also has major environmental benefits, reducing the number of vehicles in use, and the number of parking spaces required in a neighbourhood.
Members of the service typically live or work in inner city locations where parking is restricted, and car use is only occasional, eliminating the expense of owning and garaging a vehicle.
“Car sharing is becoming increasingly popular, as inner city residents or others with short-term vehicle requirements discover that they can rent a car for a little as an hour, from convenient on-street parking spaces,” said Gregory Giraud, General Manager, Carsharing, for Flexicar. “In the past three months we have achieved record month-on-month growth in membership numbers in Melbourne, enabling us to add these new spaces and additional vehicles just in time for the busy summer months.”
Flexicar is Melbourne’s largest car share operator, and the second largest in Australia. Its fleet across Melbourne is 120 vehicles. The Flexicar fleet are all named, with some of the new additions being: Comet the Corolla Hatch, Melba the Corolla Sedan, Hippo the 12-seater van and Horatio the Nissan X-Trail.
Dedicated parking locations are provided to Flexicar by local councils, to encourage communal vehicle use through car sharing – a strategy which not only reduces pressure on limited parking spaces, but minimises the number of vehicles required, reducing exhaust emissions.
In the past month, the City of Melbourne has provided 10 new locations for Flexicar – eight on the street in the CBD, one in College Crescent, Carlton and one in Sturt Street, Southbank, while the City of Yarra has provided a location at Abbotsford Convent.
Three more Flexicar locations were added last week by City of Moreland, opposite Moreland Station in Coburg, in Dawson Street, West Brunswick and in Nicholson Street, East Brunswick.
For more information about Flexicar membership, fees and locations, visit flexicar.com.au
Flexicar is a wholly-owned company of Hertz Australia.
