Carsharing coming to Poland next year – ZDM

Reports in the Polish press on Tuesday stated that the system of car rental service known as car-sharing has been introduced in Poland.  Transport Publiczny reported that, following a meeting last Friday, Warsaw’s head of Municipal Road Management (ZDM) announced that a concessionaire will run a car-sharing system in the city, initially providing 300-500 cars. The report indicated that an agreement on the business will be signed early in 2017, and service will start within a few months of that time. “Car-sharing is something that has been known in Western Europe for decades. It started with the fact that the residents of a building bought a car, [then shared it by] leaving the keys with the porter, and taking the car for their private business matters,” explained ZDM head Łukasz Puchalski. Another report in Puls Bizesu on Tuesday stated that a private company in Warsaw has already begun offering car-sharing, with 20 automobiles on offer for the service – although the report did not indicate the name of the provider. The system has become popular in Western Europe and in North America due to its simplicity and reported cost effectiveness – customers can rent a car on their smartphones, pick it up at a designated spot found on the app, and use it for any amount of time (even for only 30 minutes if necessary), before dropping it off at a place that is convenient for them. There are no extra fees for insurance or fuel costs. Officials predict that such a service will cost approximately PLN 1.2 per minute ride. The agreement is to be signed early next year and the system will start a few months later, reports said.