New York – Car Sharing A Hit In Brooklyn’s Jewish Community

New York – Two and a half months after German based Car 2 Go debuted in Kings County, the local Jewish community has eagerly embraced the blue and white Smart Cars that have popped up in many sections of the borough.

“We have gotten many compliments on our service from the Chasidic community,” John Asante, marketing and sales supervisor for Car 2 Go Brooklyn, told VIN News. “We have had huge interest in Borough Park, parts of Williamsburg and Crown Heights and we have gotten a lot of feedback and suggestions for which areas we should include when we expand our home area.”

While car sharing companies are not a new phenomenon, Car 2 Go offers unique benefits that differ from other similar services. Drivers are not required to make round trips and can leave the car in any legal non-metered parking spot instead of having to return the car to a designated parking area. Rentals are available by the minute, the hour or by the day.

According to Asante, interest in Car 2 Go Brooklyn far exceeded expectations.

“We were hoping for 18,000 members in our first few months but we already have 22,000,” said Asante. “We had 5,000 members enrolled in our first month and that was when we knew we were on to something.”

Brooklyn is the first New York City area to be served by Car 2 Go.

“We looked at cities in different parts of the country, looking for an area that needed a transportation solution.” noted Asante. “When we looked in New York we saw that people who live in Manhattan have subways, busses, taxis and can walk to a lot of different places but in Brooklyn, a lot of the transportation is focused on Manhattan, and traveling within Brooklyn, from Crown Heights to Williamsburg, from Red Hook to Coney Island was really tough with very few options.”

It came as no surprise to Car 2 Go that Brooklyn’s Chasidic community was quick to warm to the car sharing service.

“We were already running in Montreal and there was a lot of usage there from the Chasidic community so we felt that we could predict that we would succeed similarly in Brooklyn,” observed Asante.

Members pay a one-time $35 fee to sign up for Car 2 Go and then use a smartphone app to locate the closest available vehicle. A windshield mounted card reader gives members access to the car using their membership card and they can drive anywhere as long as the vehicle is returned to a legal, non-metered parking place in the designated home area. Car 2 Go charges 41 cents per minute, $14.99 per hour or $84.99 per day and members are responsible for any parking fees or towing charges incurred as a result of their usage.

“It’s pretty simple,” said Asante. “Find it. Drive it. Park it.”

Bayswater resident Annette Turner is a big fan of Car 2 Go and she hopes that the company will start serving Queens in the near future.

“The cars are very inexpensive and it is convenient that you can pick them up on the street and ‘return’ them when you park,” said Turner. “The cars are great and very comfortable.”

Faigy Grossman of Borough Park said that she finds Car 2 Go to be a welcome addition to the Brooklyn landscape.

“I don’t own a car because I prefer to walk when I can and not deal with the hassles of car ownership and parking, but it’s nice to have a backup on cold or rainy days,” said Grossman.

The creator of Step It Up Jewish Dance Game, Grossman has found that as a businesswoman, Car 2 Go offers certain advantages.

“During the hectic holiday selling season, having access to an extra vehicle that fits into tight parking spaces to facilitate same day deliveries to customers was a lifesaver,” observed Grossman. “Smart Cars are a lot roomier than they look from the outside. They are great for transporting small parcels.”

But Grossman noted that the restriction of only being able to park in non-metered spots is particularly limiting and that the car’s need to establish a GPS connection in order to end a trip can sometimes cause delays.

“In general they are very reliable but I have had one or two mishaps where it was clear that the car needed to be serviced,” said Grossman. “If you report the issue, they are very responsive and courteous but it’s difficult to make up for time lost in searching for another vehicle.”

Car 2 Go currently has 400 cars in western Brooklyn with a home area that includes Williamsburg, Borough Park, the western section of Crown Heights and limited portions of Flatbush as well as Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvestant, Greenpoint, and Brooklyn Heights. The company hopes to add both more cars and more coverage to Brooklyn and is trying to work out an arrangement with New York City that would allow members to leave the cars in both metered and unmetered spaces.

Car 2 Go first began offering its services in Ulm, Germany in 2008 and launched in the United States in Austin, Texas in 2010. The company currently serves cities in 15 European cities including Berlin, Florence, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Milan, Stockholm and Vienna. Car to go has 4,415 vehicles in the United States and serves 15 cities in North America including Austin, Columbus, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Brooklyn, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, Washington DC, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.