Daimler’s car2go began service in Berlin on April 26, according to a company announcement.
The fully flexible short-term car rental service offering 1,000 smart fortwo vehicles on startup is a joint venture with Europcar. car2go reports that the new system in Berlin is already in great demand, as evidenced by the roughly 2,000 pre-registrations submitted to date.
The car2go operating area includes the commuter rail ring around Berlin, the city’s nearby suburbs, the centers of Spandau and Köpenick, and the highly-populated areas Marzahn, Hellersdorf, Lichtenrade and Märkisches Viertel. The operating region is approximately 250-sqaure kilometers.
Customers pay a one-time registration fee of 9.90 euros; each time they rent a vehicle, they are charged a rate of 29 cents per minute that includes applicable taxes, insurance, fuel and parking costs, and the first 20 kilometers traveled. Whenever the car2go is left parked in between, the rate decreases to nine cents per parked minute. Discounted rates are available for hourly and daily use: A one-hour car2go rental costs 12.90 euros; the daily rental fee (24 hours) is 39 euros. All new customers are eligible for a free 30-minute initial test drive.
Europcar is contributing its fleet management and logistics expertise to the joint venture and will also make part of its rental station network available for car2go consulting and registration services, beginning mid-May. Customers who register for car2go will also receive a free Europcar partner card that allows them to rent vehicles from the entire Europcar fleet at competitive rates (15% off the least expensive daily rate).
A Multimodal Concept
“The varied mobility patterns of Berlin residents and the great demand in the city for continually available and flexible personal mobility options make the capital an ideal market for new mobility services and programs like car2go,” says Michael Müller, member of the Berlin Senate responsible for Urban Development and the Environment. “Our plans to link car2go with the conventional public transport system will make the program an outstanding addition to traditional scheduled modes of public transport. We’re therefore very happy that car2go has finally arrived in Berlin and we look forward to the great experience we will all share with the system.”
The integration of car2go into a multimodal concept will be implemented in cooperation with the Verkehrsverbund Berlin Brandenburg (VBB) and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) transport companies and other partners shortly after the launch of the program. The cooperation possibilities here will range from joint information and sales campaigns (e.g. car2go registration at selected BVG customer centers) to special discounts for BVG customers and the establishment of intelligently networked information and billing systems.
“Buses and subways are the backbone of the local public transport system,” said BVG Chairwoman Sigrid Nikutta, adding, “Our goal here must be to set up a system that combines the entire product range in the form of a ticket or entry into a standardized information system. This will make it possible for Berliners and their guests to move through the city on buses and trains, by bike, or with a taxi or electric vehicle as needed. In this sense, car2go is an important partner for us as we move to transform our mobility vision into reality.”
