Topic: Car Ownership
Avis Budget Group to Supply Uber Drivers With Zipcars (Feb 8, 2017)
Two alternatives to traditional car ownership come together here, as Avis/Budget provides Zipcars to Uber drivers on an hourly basis. This deal could help expand Uber’s base of potential drivers beyond those who already own a car including among those who only want to drive part time, as well as dealing with the sometimes thorny issue of insurance. The big car rental companies are each trying to figure out how they fit into these new models – Enterprise has been approaching carmakers with offers to help them manage ride sharing fleets, and now there’s this deal between another of the big names and Uber. Meanwhile, some of the big carmakers themselves have been buying or taking stakes in smaller new rental companies as a way of hedging against a future of less car ownership. Though a lot of the disruption in this space has been driven by startups coming in from outside the industry, each of the legacy players has an enormous vested interest in ensuring a strong role in the future models too.
Car-Free Living in the United States: What the Data Says – Medium (Dec 13, 2016)
This is interesting for a couple of different reasons: first off, it suggests something about the impact of Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services on car ownership, something that’s been predicted and which now seems to be coming to pass. Secondly, it may suggest something about changing demographics and priorities with regard to ownership – in at least some of these states, falling percentages of car ownership are actually about new households exhibiting different behavior, not existing households changing behavior.
via Car-Free Living in the United States: What the Data Says – Medium