AAA will be expanding its app-based, free-floating car sharing service to Seattle this spring, aiming to get 250 Toyota Prius hybrid-electric cars on the streets by May.
GIG Car Share’s arrival comes just months after similar services Car2Go, LimePod and ReachNow announced they were leaving Seattle. Jason Haight, GIG Car Share’s president, told the Seattle Times the company chose the city because of its “proven track record of high demand” and declining rate of car ownership.
GIG customers pay 40 cents per minute or $15 an hour to rent a vehicle they can pick up or drop off in designated parking lots and street spots. Users simply locate a vehicle, unlock it using their smartphone and drive it anywhere within the designated “home zone” in Seattle.
Gas, insurance and parking are included in the price. While a AAA membership is not required, members will receive a 10 percent discount on trips.
A3Ventures, AAA’s venture arm, launched GIG in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2017 and currently operates 750 hybrid vehicles in Berkeley, Oakland and Sacramento. The company says this expansion to Seattle will bring its total fleet to 1,000 cars, making it the “largest free-floating car-sharing service in the nation,” according to GeekWire.
