News-Letter

ZipCar contacted Baltimore officials and indicated that it did not intend to continue with FlexCar's previous deal with the city.

"They said that they did not want to enter any new markets at the time," Janes said. "We were disappointed at first."

ZipCar was unavailable to comment on the matter. The company continues to maintain several vehicles at Hopkins.

Baltimore Parking Authority began looking into the possibility of forming a non-profit car sharing program, such as the Philadelphia car sharing program called PhillyCarShare. The program was founded in Fall 2002 by five Philadelphia residents. In April 2004, the Philadelphia city government began funding the program, becoming the first city to fund a car sharing program. PhillyCarShare currently reports over 50,000 members.

In early 2008, Baltimore officials contacted the Philadelphia officials so seek guidance and support on the project. Though the company was unable to send representatives to Baltimore, they went through with the plan, modeling the car-sharing program after the Philadelphia company.

"This will be a good form of public transportation. It will help people who don't have a car and go to many places at a time with no hassle," sophomore Alex Satin said.

Parking Authority officials submitted the official paperwork to the state of Maryland on Sept. 24 and plans to hire an executive director by the end of the year.

The company is currently applying for non-profit status with the federal government.

BaltimoreCarShare is set to begin its test phase early next year, with the cars initially being used by the Parking Authority and other city agencies.

The service will then be expanded to corporations, developers and property managers located across Baltimore to be used as a resource for their employees.

Individuals can register on the company's Web site.

Cars will be initially distributed across the city based on demand, with services eventually being expanded across the city.

Cars will be located across the city, parked on the streets or in parking lots.

In accordance with Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's "greener, cleaner Baltimore" philosophy, half the vehicles will be hybrids.

"Half of our cars will be hybrid vehicles," Janes said. "The main concern is that they will be environmentally friendly and gas efficient. As technology improves we will update our vehicles."

Funding for the program will initially come from Mayor Sheila Dixon's office. As the program expands, the hope is the company will become self-sufficient and will not need government funding.

Currently, the Parking Authority is applying for local and federal grants for the project.

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