Photo courtesy of Zipcar.

Photo courtesy of Zipcar.

Zipcar has announced new partnerships in central Florida with the cities of Orlando and Winter Park to bring its carsharing service to the area.

The Florida Department of Transportation’s reThink program, a service that seeks to reduce congestion, improve air quality, conserve natural resources and save commuters money, was an initial catalyst for this launch, reaching out to Zipcar in March 2015 about the opportunity to partner with the cities of Orlando and Winter Park.

A total of 12 Zipcars — six located in on-street parking spots and garages in downtown Orlando, four at hotels in walking distance to Disney Springs and two in a surface lot at the Winter Park SunRail Station — are available for reservation by the hour or by the day, according to Zipcar.

“As mayor, keeping Orlando moving continues to be one of my top priorities, ensuring that we provide safe, multimodal forms of transportation and offer everyone who lives, works and plays in our city options for getting around,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “Zipcar helps us to further this initiative, enhancing our transportation options and further connecting our community to opportunity and meeting their daily transportation needs.”

The Orlando and Winter Park fleets feature a variety of makes and models, including a Dodge Caravan named “Minnie,” a BMW X1 named “The Mayor” and a Ford Focus Hatchback named “Beauty,” according to Zipcar.

Each reservation includes gas, insurance and 180 miles of driving per day.

“Zipcar couldn’t be more excited to expand our ‘wheels when you want them’ service to central Florida,” said Smokshane West, Zipcar’s Florida market manager. “In addition to walking, biking, SunRail, LYMMO and LYNX, visitors and residents now have access to a car when they need one. Members can hop off the LYNX and into a Zipcar or surprise their kids with Zipcar “Minnie” to visit an area theme park.”

Local businesses can benefit from Zipcar’s presence through the Zipcar for Business (Z4B) program that offers discounted driving rates Monday through Friday.

For more information, visit www.zipcar.com/orlando.

0 Comments