Flexcar Expands Fleet, Partners with City to Make It Easier to Commute to Bellevue

SEATTLE--June 13, 2006--Flexcar today announced it is expanding its fleet of cars in Bellevue through an innovative partnership with the City of Bellevue, King County Metro, Equity Office and Unico Properties. Now, even more downtown Bellevue employees will be able to ride transit or car/vanpool to work, knowing they can use Flexcar for mid-day errands, unexpected meetings or other last-minute trips. Vehicle parking spots in prime office buildings are being provided by Equity Office (Symetra Financial Center) and Unico Properties (Skyline Tower), while King County Metro will offer special incentives for new members.

As part of its Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) efforts, the City of Bellevue received a Trip Reduction Performance Program grant from the State of Washington to provide a special incentive to its employees who rideshare, ride transit or use other non-single occupancy vehicle commute methods: free Flexcar use for personal errands during the day. Having access to a car onsite will remove one of the largest impediments to public transit usage -- the fear of needing a car unexpectedly during the day.

"When Bellevue city employees were surveyed for the Annual CRT Report, access to transportation was one of the top three responses that would encourage them to use other modes of transportation," said Marcella Wilson, Parking Manager at the City of Bellevue. "With Flexcar, our employees can have peace of mind leaving their car at home. It eases their commute and helps us meet, and hopefully exceed, our Commute Trip Reduction goals."

"Metro is excited to be working with Flexcar as we work with the downtown Bellevue business community to offer commute options," said Ref Lindmark, a Transportation Planner at Metro.

Flexcar's innovative program provides its members with on-demand access to a fleet of nearly 200 low emission vehicles, including gas/electric hybrids, pickup trucks, AWDs and minivans conveniently located throughout Seattle and Bellevue. Members reserve the car online or via touchtone phone, use a Smartcard to open the doors, take their trip, then return the car at the end of the reservation. A simple hourly fee includes gas, insurance, unlimited miles, maintenance, parking and 24-7 emergency service.

The City of Bellevue is in the midst of a major transformation, as key components of large scale transit projects are complete, as occupancy is skyrocketing and as unprecedented commercial and residential development continues at a breakneck pace. All these developments combine to create an environment well suited for carsharing.

"Flexcar's expansion in Bellevue and our new partnerships are yet another sign of the growing popularity of carsharing," said Jamie Cheney, the General Manager of Flexcar's Seattle region. "More and more people are living and working in downtown, and transit connectivity has never been stronger. We're responding to these developments by expanding our service immediately and adding more cars in response to demand."

Thanks to the strong support of Equity Office and Unico Properties, Flexcars now have a home in prime parking spots in key office towers in downtown, making it even easier to get in a car and go. While a number of companies in Bellevue, including JPC Architects, Parametrix Environmental Engineers and Jacobs Civil Engineering have been Flexcar members for the past few years, many more are itching to sign up, including HDR Engineers.

"We've got more than 200 employees here and a large number of them commute to work via transit, " said David Peters, Vice President. "As a consulting engineering firm, our teams are often on site at projects or meeting with clients, and need access to a car during the day. Flexcar will allow us to avoid buying several fleet cars yet still meet our employee needs for mobility in a sustainable manner."

Since launching the US carsharing industry in 1998, Flexcar has won numerous awards and commendations for reducing congestion, air pollution and energy use, and increasing use of public transit while contributing to sustainable communities. Research from Flexcar as well as independent entities has clearly shown that carsharing programs take cars off the road, reduce annual miles traveled and increase the use of public transit. These studies indicate that roughly 60 percent of members have either sold or decided not to purchase a vehicle because of the program, thus removing thousands of vehicles and thousands of tons of emissions from circulation.

About Flexcar

Flexcar founded the U.S. car-sharing industry and now operates car-sharing programs for more than 35,000 members in seven metropolitan areas, covering 37 cities in 6 states and the District of Columbia. 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 fleet includes sedans, gas-electric hybrids, and specialty vehicles including pickups, AWD, minivans and convertibles. AOL Founder Steve Case and auto industry legend Lee Iacocca are board members and investors/owners of Flexcar.