The car sharing company Car2Go announced Friday that it will suspend its service in San Diego and Minneapolis-St.Paul at the end of this year.
The Austin-based firm’s members rent vehicles and drive them almost anywhere within the local service territory, paying by the minute. The service allows users, especially those in or around downtown, to save hundreds of dollars a month in car expenses, according to the company.
“We invested a lot to support Car2Go in San Diego, but unfortunately we have not seen enough adoption to-date to continue,” a post on the company’s San Diego Twitter account says.
Another tweet said members could still use Car2Go in other North American cities.
“Today, we notified our members in San Diego and Minneapolis-St. Paul that we will be suspending our service in those two markets at the end of 2016,” said Michael Silverman of Car2Go, a subsidiary of Daimler North America Corp.
“We thank our members in those locations for all their support and regret any inconvenience this decision may cause them,” Silverman said.
“Car2go is a growing business, having just surpassed two million global members, and carsharing as an industry is projected to reach 36 million members worldwide by 2025.”
He said the company will “continue to focus on growth within our existing portfolio of U.S. and Canadian cities while we also plan expansion into large North American cities where millions of people can benefit from the kind of instant, affordable mobility Car2Go delivers.”
Another car sharing firm, Zipcar, also operates in San Diego.
— City News Service
