MetroRiderLA

Unless they live on-campus at a local university (USC, UCLA, Pomona), Angelenos now have no car-sharing options available to them. Prior to 2008, Flexcar members in Culver City, Downtown, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Venice, and Wilshire Center had access to a large number of vehicles. However, 2008 brought the anticipated/dreaded merger with rival Zipcar, and as CurbedLA reports, the outcome of the merger is a worst-case-scenario come true. Here is an email that many Flexcar members turned Zipcar members received (apparently I was not on the mailing list):

Car sharing is an evolving category of transportation, and we are working hard to pioneer the industry. We are constantly learning more about the best way to operate our service, and sometimes what we learn results in a tough decision.

In Southern California, we have decided to remove our vehicles from areas outside of the universities we serve (cars will remain at UCLA, USC, Pomona, UCSB, UCSD and UCI).

This was a difficult decision for us, and we understand it may present significant inconvenience for you. We apologize for that.

Reservations for all affected locations have been canceled and fully credited. Further, we have refunded annual membership fees for all members who paid an annual fee within the past nine months. Your refund will appear in your account automatically. If you have questions about your refund, please contact us at info@zipcar.com.

We realize that you recently activated your Zipcard. We’d like to encourage you to use it by placing a *new* $25 driving credit into your account. Hopefully, you’ll reserve a vehicle at one of our university locations in Southern California or in any other city where we provide service. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us at info@zipcar.com.

The team at Zipcar

Ummm… no.

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Last Halloween the king of Los Angeles car-sharing and friend to many a MetroRider, Flexcar, announced that it would be merging with Boston based rival Zipcar, combining their powers like The Planeteers to form the Captain Planet* of car-sharing companies. Well, a little over two months later, Zipcar has arrived in L.A.

I received my stylish Zipcard in the mail today and activated my account which nabbed me $25 worth of free driving credit just for being an old Flexcar member. I’m eager to use up that credit as soon as possible, having been a Flexcar member for over a year the curiousity to see what’s new is overwhelming. Overall, I was very pleased with Flexcar, the system wasn’t flawless but the customer service was good and when the system worked (and it did the majority of the time) it was a breeze.

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