What's this about?
Driving is a convenient way to get around town, but car ownership in a large city can be a real pain. To provide the benefits of motoring, without the drawbacks, BMW Group and Sixt have teamed up to launch DriveNow, a new car sharing service in London. Launched today (11 Dec, 2014), it is possible to hire vehicles in three boroughs: Hackney, Haringey and Islington. Globally, there are already over 360,000 DriveNow customers spread across several cities in Germany plus Vienna and San Francisco.
Haven't we seen similar schemes before?
There are other car-sharing schemes operating in the capital already, but DriveNow claims to offer greater flexibility. Joseph Seal-Driver, head of DriveNow UK said, "Car sharing has really begun to capture Londoners' imaginations but it's still a fairly niche service. Londoners have told us that current services don't reflect how they live and move. Our goal is that DriveNow's introduction of a location and booking free, drive-by-the-minute, park anywhere service will act as the tipping point in transforming car sharing into a mainstream mobility choice for Londoners."
How does it work?
Registration costs £29, allowing customers to have access to a fleet of 210 MINIs and BMW 1 Series. After registration, the only cost is for the number of minutes used; 39p per minute of driving up to an hourly maximum of £20. It is also possible to purchase a monthly subscription to bring the usage rate down to 32p per minute.
The agreement with Hackney, Islington and Haringey means that DriveNow cars can be parked in any legal on-street parking space, including residential bays, meaning it is possible to use the service for one-way trips. An App for Android and iOS devices allows customers to locate and unlock their nearest car.
Anything else?
From spring 2015, BMW will add 30 electric i3s to the DriveNow fleet. The company also plans to extend the service to 15 more cities in Europe and ten in North America.
To register, go to www.drive-now.com; the first 1,000 customers can sign up for free and get 30 free minutes by entering the code 'LONDON'.
John Lambert - 11 Dec 2014