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Zipcar off and running in Buffalo

Mike Desmond/wbfo news

Zipcar officially arrived in Buffalo Thursday afternoon, with a ceremony on the steps of  City Hall.

Zipcar is a car-sharing service available for those who join and receive the special access card. That allows a member to use the car to unlock a reserved car, use it and return it and pay by the hour.

The service is joining with the former Buffalo Car Share and there will initially be 30 cars available for use.
          

"This will assist people who have limited access to vehicles, who have no access to vehicles in being able to share cars when they need to," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown during Thursday's ceremony. 

"So, when they need to go to a supermarket, when they need to go to a doctor's appointment. When they need to go to a special evening on the town, Zipcar will now be available."

He says it means a lot to those who may live in a neighborhood with parking difficulties since they can use a Zipcar rather than trying to park their own. Zipcar is the latest attack on traditional transportation methods like taxis, adding to Uber which lets car owners serve as drivers for a fee. That's currently banned in New York with a big fight over the ban.

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.