Zipcar Opens Location In East-Side Milwaukee, As Car Sharing In WI Grows

The car-sharing business is growing in Wisconsin, with Milwaukee announcing its first off-campus car-sharing outlet.

Zipcar, which is now owned by the Avis Budget Group has set up a site on Milwaukee’s East Side, which has a lot of people and not much parking space. Having a firm in that area that offers car rentals by the hour makes sense to Eric Shambarger of the Milwaukee Office of Environmental Sustainability.

“Car sharing is a good opportunity for sustainability because when people share a car through this system, they tend to be more efficient with their trips. They only use it when they need to get somewhere versus maybe taking unnecessary trips.”

Shambarger says Milwaukee will continue to offer bus and biking options, and hopes to eventually begin work on a small streetcar system. Zipcar also has car-sharing programs at University of Wisconsin (UW)-Milwaukee, Marquette University, and at the UW-Madison.

A locally-owned firm, Community Car, is nearing its 10th year of selling the car-sharing idea elsewhere in Madison, while the large car renter Enterprise has started car-sharing at Beloit College and UW-River Falls. There’s also a national program called Relay Rides that tries to connect car owners and short-term car renters via the internet.