Flexcar Doubles its Fleet in Washington, D.C. Metro Area

WASHINGTON--March 21, 2002--Flexcar, America's oldest and largest car-sharing company, has doubled the number of vehicles in its Washington, D.C. metro area fleet, and expanded the number of Metrorail stations that offer the service.

Flexcar launched the service in December, 2001 as part of a public-private partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Parsons Transportation Group, Inc.

Flexcar's innovative program provides members with access to a fleet of vehicles located throughout the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland regions. Members reserve the vehicles for hourly use with Flexcar covering the cost of the car, gas, parking, insurance, and maintenance. Members pay only for the time they use the car, and pay nothing when they don't.

Vehicles have been newly placed at the following Metrorail stations: Anacostia, College Park-University of Maryland, Columbia Heights, Grosvenor-Strathmore, McPherson Square, New Carrollton, and Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail stations. Cars also are available at the eight sites where they were placed in December 2001: Ballston-MU, Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan, Shady Grove, King Street, White Flint, Eastern Market, Union Station, and Dupont Circle Metrorail stations.

``The growth in members and use has exceeded our expectations,'' said Flexcar President and CEO Neil Peterson. ``Through our strong partnership with WMATA, our innovative program is meeting the needs of the region's commuters and residents. We look forward to continuing our rapid growth to serve even more people.''

Following a successful European model, Flexcar launched its Seattle operations in 2000, and has since won numerous awards and commendations for its program that reduces congestion, reduces air pollution, reduces energy use, increases use of public transit and contributes to sustainable communities. Used in conjunction with public transit, car/vanpools and walking/biking, car-sharing can meet an individual's transportation needs in an economic and environmentally responsible manner, giving them the freedom of car ownership without the cost and hassles.

In addition to serving individuals, Flexcar offers Business Membership Plans that allow companies and organizations to augment or replace the need for fleet vehicles. Flexcar works with property managers to place Flexcar vehicles in convenient locations in downtown buildings. Employees of Flexcar Business Members can access the vehicles for meetings, errands or other business needs; the company is billed with a simple monthly invoice for only the amount of time the vehicle is used. Companies are using Flexcar to reduce their monthly fleet costs, to achieve commute reduction goals, or simply to provide a benefit to employees.

Flexcar

Flexcar's innovative car-sharing program provides its members convenient access to a fleet of new and fuel-efficient cars located across metropolitan regions. With flexible pricing plans, members can reserve and drive any of these cars whenever and wherever they need to, without filling out complicated paperwork, paying for insurance, gas or repairs. Flexcar Business Memberships enable companies to augment or replace their fleet with Flexcar vehicles. Flexcar's modern fleet includes sedans, gas-electric hybrids and specialty vehicles including pickups. Members can access a Flexcar in any of the following metropolitan areas: Seattle, Portland (Ore.), and Washington, D.C. Metro. Other regions will be added in 2002. Flexcar is a privately held company that has established strategic partnerships with King County (Wash.) Metro, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Parsons Transportation Group and American Honda Co.