The City of Austin may extend a six-month pilot program that allows city employees to use a fleet of 140 Smart Cars for free while on city business.
The six-month pilot program began last November, but city leaders say it took a couple months to explain the program to employees and get workers signed up to use the small cars.
"We're anxious to get more of our employees enrolled," said Karla Taylor Villalon, communications director of the city's transportation department.
During January, employees drove the cars about 10,000 miles.
So far, about 950 of the roughly 12,000 city employees have signed up for the program, which allows workers to use the small cars for free while on city business, or for 35-cents a minute while on personal business.
"When they use the card, you swipe it and you get right in," she said. "There's a tracking system that tracks where the car starts, where it ends, how long the car is being used, and by who."
The city entered into an agreement with Daimler last year in which city employees have access to a fleet of 140 Smart Cars. In return, the city gives the cars free parking.
There are about 40 designated Smart Car parking spaces in Central Austin, but the cars are also allowed to park for free in regular parking spaces. That annoys some people, who say parking in downtown is hard enough without unused Smart Cars taking up valuable spaces.
"We know there's a parking problem downtown at night," Villalon said. "But we haven't heard from anybody who specifically comments on Cars2Go at night."
In addition, she also says not every Smart Car in Central Austin is part of the city program.
