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Flexcar was a for-profit car sharing company, the oldest and second-largest in the United States behind Boston-based Zipcar, with which it merged in late 2007. ==Overview== Flexcar can date its origins to March 1998, when it's strategic business planning was started by Flexcar cofounder & Champion Tracy Carroll, Dave Brook of Car Sharing Portland, Conrad Wagner of Mobility Switzerland and Neil Peterson, former Director of King County Metro. Flexcar itself was founded in January 2000 in Seattle, WA as a public-private partnership with King County Metro. Spurred on by the company's excellent customer service and Neighborhood Champions, Flexcar expanded to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, California; Gainesville, Florida; Rochester, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tempe, Arizona (it served Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University); Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio; and, to varying degrees, in their suburbs. In addition, Flexcar was partnered with the non-profit I-GO carsharing service in Chicago, Illinois. Flexcar members chose a rate plan and paid an annual fee. The fees covered gasoline, insurance, maintenance, and cleaning. The vehicles were mostly late-model sedans, with other types, such as light trucks, hybrids, convertibles, and minivans, also available. Each vehicle had a home location, a reserved space either in a parking lot or on a street, typically in a highly populated urban neighborhood (as well as, in some markets, on college or university campuses). Members reserved a car by web or telephone and used a key card to access the vehicle. The reservation was required to specify the pick up and return time, so others could schedule the vehicle. Vehicles were returned to their home location. The company targeted people who made only occasional use of a vehicle as well as people who wanted occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use day-to-day. Flexcar claimed that the service was economically beneficial to anyone whose car would normally be away from their home about 15 hours a week, and did not need a car for their daily commute to work. In several of its cities, the company had formed a public-private partnership with a local public transit entity. For example, in Seattle they were partnered with King County Metro Transit, which operates the area's buses. The company's advertising materials there said, "Ride Metro when you don't need a car. Use Flexcar when you do." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Flexcar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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