© 2023 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Car Sharing Company Zipcar Launches Service In Columbus

Zipcar/Twitter
/
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther joined other city leaders and Zipcar President Tracey Zhen at a Tuesday event.

One month after car sharing company Car2Go said it was pulling out of Columbus, another company has officially launched service in the city.

Zipcar is like Car2Go in that it’s a member-based service where people can get short-term car rentals. But unlike Car2Go, Zipcar rents cars by the hour and day, not by the minute. And Zipcar offers several different models, not just those blue-and-white smart cars offered by Car2Go.

Zipcar is the most popular car-sharing company in Europe. It got help from Columbus City Council earlier this year when lawmakers approved code changes allowing for dedicated parking spots for car-sharing vehicles.

The company already had a few cars operating before a Tuesday kickoff event with city leaders.

Steve Brown grew up in nearby Richwood, Ohio and now lives there with his wife and sons. He started his journalism career as a weekend board operator at WOSU while majoring in journalism at Ohio State, where he also wrote for the student newspaper The Lantern and co-founded the organization Students for Public Broadcasting.