Flexcar Hearts Shaw

In my pre-Shaw days, I always intended to join either Zip Car or Flexcar to ease the (sometimes) burden of not having a car in Washington. I never got around to it (walking, biking and metro-ing was my game and I got by just fine). Now that I have a car (technically I had a car before moving to Shaw, but left it at my parents' home in North Carolina because renting a parking space in D.C. is too expensive), it would be pointless to join. Nonetheless, I thought it might be interesting to know what car sharing program is more convenient to us Shaw-ites.

It appears that Flexcar is the winner, as it has several locations in and close to Shaw (unlike ZipCar, which has numerous west of 9th but none at, e.g., the Shaw/Howard metro). Flex Car's website lists the bus and metro routes to every car location in the city, which is pretty handy. The following is a list of Flexcar locations in Shaw:

1. 2 cars by the Whitman (917 M St, N.W.)

2. 1 car at the Shaw/Howard Metro (1711 8th St., N.W.)

3. 1 car at the U Street/Cardoza Metro (1932 9th St., N.W.)

As reported by the Commuter Page Blog and by several others recently, Flexcar has a special promotion going on this month: one year free membership (a $35 value) for anyone in the D.C. area who signs up in the month of January.

To become a Flexcar member:

1) Go to http://www.flexcar.com.
2) Click on "Join Now" and select "Option 1/Personal" and click on "Next Step."
3) Select "Washington, D.C."
4) Click on "Next Step" and fill out the application. The bottom of the application will show a $0 sign up fee and $0 1st year membership fee.

After your first year, a $35 membership fee will be charged on the date of your one year anniversary if you wish to continue being a member of Flexcar.

Photo credit: Flexcar! originally uploaded by SueBanks.