Enterprise, UTA launch car-sharing program in SLC

First there was GreenBike, Salt Lake City's nonprofit bicycle-sharing exchange. Now there is Enterprise CarShare, the for-profit auto-sharing program.

The Utah Transit Authority and Salt Lake City, in conjunction with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, announced the launch Monday of the Enterprise CarShare program in Salt Lake City that allows members to rent autos around the clock by the hour or the day.

The program requires an annual membership of $40 per year and can be acquired at www.EnterpriseCarShare.com/slc. As part of the program rollout, those membership fees will be waived until Jan. 31, said spokeswoman Lisa Martini.

Members can reserve a car at a specific time and place online and then pick up the auto at one of 29 locations with membership cards that will open them, Martini said.

Stations are located near TRAX and FrontRunner stations, the University of Utah, some downtown Salt Lake City locations and Utah Valley University.

"By putting vehicles at train stations and other urban locations, it's an opportunity to supplement mass transit," Martini said. "It gives people the opportunity to get where they need to go."

Rates begin at $5 per hour and $75 per day, depending on the make and model of the rental.

The program will augment mass transit by giving bus and train riders an alternative at the end of the line, said UTA spokesman Remi Baron.

"It's the 'last-mile theory,'˝ Baron said. "If you need to go somewhere where there is no bus or train and you don't own a car, it will take you where you need to go."

A previous contractor, U Car Share, will no longer be affiliated with UTA and Salt Lake City, according to officials.

UTA sought Enterprise to launch a CarShare in Utah because the rental company has been successful with its program elsewhere, said Michael Allegra, UTA general manager.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car "already [is] well-established across the Wasatch Front, so they have the ability to scale the local car-sharing model while meeting demand and maintaining fair prices."

csmart@sltrib.com CarShare

Annual membership — $40 (waived through Jan. 31)

Hourly — beginning at $5; Daily beginning at $75

Locations — www.EnterpriseCarShare.com/slc.