Boston Awarding 40 Parking Spaces to Enterprise CarShare
As part of its DriveBoston program, the city of Boston is awarding 40 public parking spaces to Enterprise CarShare, a service of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand and part of the world's largest car rental company.
The Enterprise Rent-A-Car network has operated in the Boston area since 1989, and today includes more than 100 fully staffed neighborhood and airport locations in the region. Three years ago, Enterprise entered theBoston retail car sharing market when it acquired Mint Cars On-Demand. Since then, the Boston Enterprise CarShare fleet and membership have increased more than 300 percent.
Enterprise first launched hourly car rentals in the U.S. in 2005, followed by local car-sharing in 2007 as a natural extension of its business rental program. Enterprise CarShare now has a retail presence in several major markets including Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Toronto and Washington, D.C. In total, the service is available in more than 35 U.S. states, Canada and the U.K – and offered through more than 100 university campuses and hundreds of business and government accounts across the country.
Boston's new municipal 18-month pilot program marks the first time that Enterprise CarShare will access public parking in the area. Enterprise – a member of the CarSharing Association – applied to be part of the DriveBoston program in February.
"Over time, instituting public policies like these can make urban mobility solutions even more flexible and convenient," said Susan Shaheen, Ph.D., co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center and adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Last fall, Shaheen joined Enterprise in a SXSW Eco panel discussion titled "Urban Myths & Urban Mobility."
More recently, Enterprise took part in another panel discussion – "Differentiating Brands in a Sharing Economy" – that addressed some of these same issues. At the 2015 Global Business Travel Association convention, Enterprise's Chief Strategy Officer stressed that defining transportation services precisely and consistently is critical for the media, elected officials, travel industry leaders and business operators to help ensure the marketplace is fair for everyone involved, customers included.
Transportation Trends & Infrastructure
"As an industry leader, we work hard to understand national and global transportation research and trends," explained Brian Duffy, vice president and general manager of Enterprise in Boston. "However, we also have a unique neighborhood network that directly connects us to local communities and transportation infrastructure at a grassroots level. So we're naturally excited to partner with the City of Boston on this new car sharing program, which not only enhances our fleet's accessibility in Boston, but also our ability to complement the 'T' and other options."
Enterprise CarShare operates as a natural extension of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car network, which includes more than 5,500 fully staffed neighborhood and airport offices in the U.S. alone – over 50 percent more than its nearest competitor. These convenient and accessible offices are located within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population and reflect the company's longtime focus on offering sustainable local transportation options, including vanpooling, car sharing and online ride-matching.
In fact, Enterprise has been delivering transportation alternatives right where people live and work since 1957. Forty years later, Enterprise Rent-A-Car trademarked the term Virtual Car®, after recognizing the strength and energy of local car rental, regardless if it is for an hour, a day, a week or longer. Today, Enterprise CarShare is a cost-effective alternative to car ownership, an environmentally friendly and hassle-free complement to public transit and – since it's backed by Enterprise's award-winning customer service – a convenient and reliable resource for members in select markets across the country.
