Gig Car Share

Last updated
GIG Car Share
Company type Subsidiary
FoundedApril 30, 2017 [1]
Area served
Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento, Albany, Alameda, and Seattle
Services Carsharing
Parent A3 Ventures
Website gigcarshare.com

GIG Car Share is a carsharing service in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Seattle, created by "A3 Ventures" (a division of the American Automobile Association). [2] The company operates a fleet of Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicles and all-electric Chevrolet Bolts. It offers one-way point-to-point rentals. [3]

GIG Car Share 2020 Toyota Prius XLE parked with a bicycle on its roof rack in Seattle GIG Car Share car carrying a bicycle.jpg
GIG Car Share 2020 Toyota Prius XLE parked with a bicycle on its roof rack in Seattle

The cars are unlocked and locked using a near-field communication (NFC) card or the companion app. [4] Users can be charged different rates depending on the plan chosen. Plans include being charged by the minute, hour, and day. [5]

The company collaborates with cities to pay for parking (including metered spots), which is included in each reservation.

At launch, in April 2017, the company's fleet consisted of 250 vehicles across Berkeley and Oakland. [6] Between November 23, 2017, and December 31, 2017, the company temporarily expanded its service zone to include the San Francisco International Airport to accommodate holiday travelers. [7] On January 29, 2018, GIG announced an expansion from 250 to 500 vehicles. [8] In 2018, GIG expanded to Albany and Alameda. [9] In May 2019 GIG launched the largest all-electric car-sharing fleet in the United States, with 260 Chevy Bolts in Sacramento. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

GIG also operates several designated parking lots in San Francisco, [15] and one at the Oakland International Airport.

As of May 2019, Gig launched the nation's first inter-regional one-way car-sharing service, [16] allowing members to start a trip in either the East Bay or Sacramento and end their trip in a different region.

In April 2020, the service expanded to Seattle, intending to deploy a fleet of 250 hybrid cars by May. [17]

In February 2023, the company announced they would be phasing out their service in Sacramento, citing 'Insufficient demand and high operational costs'. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryder</span> American transportation company

Ryder System, Inc. is an American transportation and logistics company. It is known for its fleet of commercial rental trucks.

<i>Capitol Corridor</i> Amtrak service between San Jose and Auburn, California

The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile (270 km) passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two points most trains operate between, San Jose and Sacramento. The route runs roughly parallel to I-880 and I-80. Some limited trips run between Oakland and San Jose. A single daily round trip runs between San Jose and Auburn, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Capitol Corridor trains started in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key System</span> Former local electric railway service in the East Bay

The Key System was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when it was sold to a newly formed public agency, AC Transit. The Key System consisted of local streetcar and bus lines in the East Bay, and commuter rail and bus lines connecting the East Bay to San Francisco by a ferry pier on San Francisco Bay, later via the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles (106 km) of track. The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the commuter trains to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. The Key System's territory is today served by BART and AC Transit bus service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area</span> Overview of transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States

People in the San Francisco Bay Area rely on a complex multimodal transportation infrastructure consisting of roads, bridges, highways, rail, tunnels, airports, seaports, and bike and pedestrian paths. The development, maintenance, and operation of these different modes of transportation are overseen by various agencies, including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Association of Bay Area Governments, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. These and other organizations collectively manage several interstate highways and state routes, eight passenger rail networks, eight trans-bay bridges, transbay ferry service, local and transbay bus service, three international airports, and an extensive network of roads, tunnels, and bike paths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Bay Electric Lines</span> Former railway lines in the San Francisco Bay Area

The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning in 1862, the SP and its predecessors operated local steam-drawn ferry-train passenger service in the East Bay on an expanding system of lines, but in 1902 the Key System started a competing system of electric lines and ferries. The SP then drew up plans to expand and electrify its system of lines and this new service began in 1911. The trains served the cities of Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro transporting commuters to and from the large Oakland Pier and SP Alameda Pier. A fleet of ferry boats ran between these piers and the docks of the Ferry Building on the San Francisco Embarcadero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Long Wharf</span> Former rail-ferry pier in California

The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Railroad on what was previously Oakland Point. Beginning November 8, 1869, it served as the west coast terminus of the First transcontinental railroad. In the 1880s, Southern Pacific Railroad took over the CPRR, extending it and creating a new ferry terminal building with the official station name Oakland Pier. The entire structure became commonly and popularly called the Oakland Mole. Portions of the Wharf lasted until the 1960s. The site is now part of the facilities of the Port of Oakland, while passenger train service operates at the nearby Jack London Square/Dellums Station and another nearby station in Emeryville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferries of San Francisco Bay</span>

San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826. Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge led to the decline in the importance of most ferries, some are still in use today for both commuters and tourists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Bay Ferry</span> Public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) and operated under contract by the privately owned, Blue and Gold Fleet. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 2,230,400, or about 8,400 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It has over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turo (company)</span> American peer-to-peer car rental company

Turo is an American peer-to-peer carsharing company based in San Francisco, United States. The company allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles via an online and mobile interface in five countries.

Getaround is an online car sharing or peer-to-peer carsharing service that connects drivers who need to reserve cars with car owners who share their cars in exchange for payment.

DriveNow was a one-way carsharing service wholly owned by the automotive manufacturer BMW. In 2019, DriveNow and car2go, a carsharing service from Daimler AG, merged to form the global mobility provider Share Now, with a combined fleet of 20,000 vehicles in 31 cities in 14 countries and over four million members worldwide. Share Now is one of the five mobility services which are part of the mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and the Daimler AG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City CarShare</span> Carsharing program in California, US

City Carshare was a carsharing program that operated in the San Francisco Bay Area, starting in 2001. It rented vehicles by the hour. In November 2016, the company effectively ceased operations, when Getaround, a for-profit, carsharing company, took over City CarShare's fleet, parking spaces, and member base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay Wheels</span>

Bay Wheels is a regional public bicycle sharing system in California's San Francisco Bay Area. It is operated by Motivate in a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Bay Wheels is the first regional and large-scale bicycle sharing system deployed in California and on the West Coast of the United States. It was established as Bay Area Bike Share in August 2013. As of January 2018, the Bay Wheels system had over 2,600 bicycles in 262 stations across San Francisco, East Bay and San Jose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maven (car sharing)</span>

Maven was a car sharing service launched by General Motors (GM) in 2016. It provided services such as carsharing and peer-to-peer car sharing for personal use and also rented to drivers of gig economy professions such as Uber and Lyft. It operated in select cities in the United States, Canada and Australia until ceasing operations in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ReachNow</span> Carsharing service

ReachNow was a carsharing service operated by BMW Group in Seattle, Portland, and Brooklyn. It launched in 2016 and it shut down its services in Seattle and Portland on July 17, 2019. It used a mobile app for car reservations and operated a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles. It was one of three car-sharing services in the city of Seattle, competing with car2go and Zipcar. ReachNow was similar to another BMW Group service DriveNow, but was focused on North American cities starting with Seattle. Unlike DriveNow which is a joint-venture with Sixt, ReachNow is a fully owned BMW subsidiary, with RideCell rather than Sixt, providing the technology platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lime (transportation company)</span> American micromobility company

Neutron Holdings, Inc., doing business under the name Lime, formerly LimeBike, is a transportation company based in San Francisco, California. It runs electric scooters, electric bikes and electric mopeds in various cities around the world. The system offers dockless vehicles that users find and unlock via a smartphone app that knows the location of available vehicles via GPS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scoot Networks</span>

Scoot Networks, also known as just Scoot or Scoot Rides, is an American company which provides public electric scooter and electric bicycle sharing systems. The company is based in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bird Global</span> Dockless scooter-sharing provider

Bird Global, Inc. is a micromobility company based in Miami, Florida. Founded in September 2017, Bird has distributed electric scooters designed for short-term rental to over 400 cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlueSG</span>

BlueSG is a Singaporean company providing electric car sharing and electric car charging services. Announced in September 2017, the company, a subsidiary of Goldbell, launched the service in December of the same year, with 30 charging stations and 80 all-electric Bolloré Bluecar for public use on a paid subscription basis.

References

  1. Buhr, Sarah (30 April 2017). "AAA officially launches its car sharing startup Gig with a giant, sober dance party in Oakland". TechCrunch . Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  2. Peters, Adele (17 April 2017). "AAA Is Planning For A Future Where We Don't Own Cars–Starting With A Car-Share". Fast Company . Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  3. "AAA launches car-sharing service 'Gig' in Oakland, Berkeley". The Mercury News . 17 April 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  4. Beth Quirk, Mary (1 May 2017). "AAA Takes On Zipcar With New 'Gig' Car-Sharing Business". Consumerist . Consumer Reports . Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. "GIG Car Share Rates". GIG Car Share. May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  6. Said, Carolyn (17 April 2017). "AAA to offer one-way hourly car rentals in East Bay". SF Gate . Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  7. Siu, Antoinette (20 November 2017). "AAA's car-sharing service expands to SFO for holiday travelers" . San Francisco Business Journal . Advance Publications . Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  8. Wirtschafter, Eli. "'One-way' car sharing grows in the East Bay" . Retrieved 2018-04-17.. In 2018, Gig expanded to both Alabany and Alameda.
  9. eikeme (2018-05-22). "One-Way Car Share Launched". Alameda Sun. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  10. "Sacramento wants you to dump your car and rent one of these 400 electric share vehicles". The Sacramento Bee. ISSN   0890-5738 . Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  11. Gonzalez, Vicki (2019-05-10). "How Sacramento's transportation culture is changing". KCRA. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  12. Vigo, Julian. "The Technological Culture of Ethical Transportation". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  13. Sessa, Bill (May 15, 2019). "Charged Up". Comstock's magazine . Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  14. Berman, Bradley (2019-01-24). "Are Electric Cars Only for the Rich? Sacramento Is Challenging That Notion". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  15. "Gig in San Francisco". GIG Car Share. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  16. "MultiZone FAQs". GIG Car Share. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  17. Baruchman, Michelle (February 25, 2020). "AAA will launch an app-based car-rental service in Seattle this spring". The Seattle Times. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  18. "Electric vehicle rental company GIG Car Share phasing out service in Sacramento - CBS Sacramento". www.cbsnews.com. 2023-02-20. Retrieved 2023-06-28.