Westminster to offer one-way car sharing with Zipcar Flex

Westminster City Council has agreed a new contract with car sharing firm Zipcar to offer one way car sharing, where users can drive one-way journeys without having to return the car back to base.

Zipcar Flex is the popular one-way, ‘drive & drop’ service which costs 29p per minute and is capped at £12 per hour and is best suited to spontaneous one-way trips around London.

Zipcar Roundtrip is also available to residents and offers 185 cars and vans in dedicated, Car Club only bays, ideal for longer weekend or shopping trips.

Westminster is the tenth London borough to sign up to Zipcar Flex since it launched just a year ago and marks a major milestone for the service, which is credited with helping to popularise car sharing in the capital.

Zipcar Flex is also available in Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Lewisham, Southwark, Hackney, Merton and Waltham Forest, making it the largest ‘free floating’ car club service in London and the only one to span north and south London.

Zipcar UK General Manager Jonathan Hampson said: “Zipcar has been working with Westminster since 2009, and so we are absolutely delighted to be able to further extend our partnership. Since 2009 nearly 12,000 Westminster residents have discovered car sharing with us.

"We are excited that Westminster City Council shares our ambition to build on what has been achieved and to further grow adoption of this important concept as an alternative to car ownership in the borough. With the introduction of Zipcar Flex, I have no doubt at all that we will do just this.”