the zipcar reservations interface

Zipcar, the car-sharing service that merged with Flexcar last year, is opening a real life office in downtown Seattle. In an interesting twist of fate, they’re taking over the storefront formerly occupied by the Department of Licensing office on Union Street (below 4th Avenue).

The grand opening is today and in addition to free snacks they’re also rewarding drop-in visitors with free Zipcar memberships. If you’ve been intrigued by short-term car rental but have been weary of the $50 annual fee, this is a great time to take the plunge. When you sign-up you’ll get a chance to spin a prize wheel for a chance to earn “driving credit, ski passes and other goodies.”

Today also marks a new partnership with the City of Seattle granting all city employees access to Zipcar. In their press release, they cite survey data showing that about half of Zipcar users increased their public transit usage and that membership is associated with reducing vehicle miles traveled by nearly 40 percent. When they extrapolate this data to Seattle, this represents an annual reduction of 2,623,620 gallons of gas and 25,449 tons of carbon dioxide.

I’ve been a member since they were Flexcar, and while my use has been infrequent it has always been convenient enough to reduce temptation to buy a car to occupy my parking space.

Previously in car sharing:

• “I Like Zipcar, too” [mb]
• Flexcar 101 [mb]