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Transportation in the City of Miami is about to become more of a shared experience. Following the lead of Miami Beach, the City announced that they’ll launch a car sharing program this summer and the Miami Herald reports the city also is looking into the possibility of a bike sharing program sometime in the near future.
The Miami Parking Authority has approved a two-year trial project with Car2Go, a subsidiary of Daimler. The project will cost taxpayers nothing.
Car2Go currently operates similar programs in Vancouver, Austin, Portland, San Diego, and Washington, D.C, as well as European cities like Berlin and Vienna.
Starting as early as July, up to 250 Smart Fortwo mini-cars will be parked along Miami streets. Members pay a one time fee of around $30 to join. The exact fees to drive the cars aren’t yet finalized, but could start around $0.35 a minute. Instead of renting the cars from a centralized area though, renters will be able to drop the cars off at any street parking spot in the city. Users can find cars through smartphone apps or online.
The Herald also drops the possibility that DecoBike could be coming to Miami proper:
Expected soon: a city bicycle-sharing program like Miami Beach’s popular DecoBike, possibly with the same vendor, which would allow the two systems to be linked.
Transportation sharing systems have been gaining steam in Miami-Dade. In addition to DecoBike, Miami Beach also operate a car sharing service, though its much smaller in scope than what’s planned for Miami. Car sharing services also operate at both FIU and University of Miami.
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