City of Philadelphia Switches to Zipcar
Zipcar places the lowest bid and will replace PhillyCarShare as the city's car rental supplier.
Hoping to save about $5,000 per year, the City of Philadelphia will use Zipcar Inc. as its car rental supplier, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Zipcar will replace PhillyCarShare, which bid $5.90 per hour and 9 cents per mile in its losing offer.
Zipcar, a for-profit car rental service based in Cambridge, Mass., had the lowest price, said Robert Fox, head of the city’s Office of Fleet Management. PhillyCarShare cost the city about $35,000 a year; Zipcar will cost an estimated $30,000.
PhillyCarShare deputy executive director Clayton Lane said the company was proud to have partnered with the city, but added the city’s decision will only have a “very modest impact” on PhillyCarShare’s business.
According to the Inquirer, the city used about 6 to 10 cars a day from PhillyCarShare, and expects to use the same from Zipcar. PhillyCarShare has about 500 cars in its local fleet. Zipcar has 110 cars in the Philadelphia area, and will boost the total if usage keeps rising.
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