Car-share and ride-share programs are nothing new - Zipcar and Uber are practically household names. What is new is that automakers are getting into the action. Nissan announced its car-sharing program for college campuses in August, and today GM announced the expansion of its Let's Drive NYC car-sharing program.
Related: Nissan Targets Millennials With Campus Car Sharing
The program operates out of the Ritz Plaza, a 479-unit apartment building in Manhattan. Residents have access to a fleet of eight Chevrolet Trax subcompact SUVs and two Chevrolet Equinox compact SUVs; GM says more will be added later. An app is used to reserve a vehicle and access parking in one of 200 garages throughout Manhattan. Building residents get three hours of rental per month included in their rent; after that, users pay around $10 an hour or up to $75 for a 24-hour reservation.
Let's Drive NYC is an expansion of a pilot program launched in the summer, and GM hinted that it will likely expand. "We entered into Let's Drive NYC with the objective that we'd be able to scale, expand the program once we better understood usage, and refined the offering," GM spokesperson Katie Adams told Cars.com in an email. Adams also said to expect another announcement early next year.
Clearly there's an interest in New York. The automaker said drivers took more than 100 trips and drove nearly 20,000 miles in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state area during the pilot program.
A recent study touted the importance of car- and ride-sharing programs as a means to ease the expanding population's burden on the nation's already taxed roads and highways, and it looks like some automakers agree.
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