Thursday, November 10, 2011

ZipCar Ramps In LA

Car sharing service ZipCar announced today that it is in a "significant expansion" of its car sharing network in the Los Angeles area, and has opened up a regional office in the city, the 16th for the firm. ZipCar said that it now has over 125 vehicles throughout the city, including those in Hollywood and vehicles on the campuses of Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, Irvine (UCI) and Pomona College.

The firm is one of the first car sharing services in Los Angeles. Zipcar said it has been offering car sharing in Los Angeles, at USC and UCLA, since 2006; the firm started placing cars via on-street parking in Hollywood in December of 2010. Zipcar allows users to rent cars on an hour-by-hour or day-by-day basis, and targets users who do not need regular access to a car. Zipcar is one of a number of car sharing services which has been expanding nationally; most have targeted dense, urban populations like Boston and San Francisco, so it's unusual to see ZipCar putting Los Angeles on the map.

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