It is a pilot that deserves its name: the car rental company Sixt is expanding its car sharing business to Graefelfing - and for the first time in Germany outside of a large city.
The small fleet officially started on Monday.
Graefelfing
- "It is our goal to maintain this offer permanently", said Kathrin Risom from Sixt at the official start of the test phase of three months - with an extension option.
Whether the project succeeds depends entirely on the customer: If the Graefelfinger cars are as well booked and on the road as those in Munich, Sixt will keep the offer.
Community ready to take on deficit
In any case, the municipality of Graefelfing is doing a lot to ensure that the start is successful.
She promised to cover half of the expected deficit of around 15,000 euros a month at the beginning;
it provided two signposted, reserved parking spaces for Sixt vehicles at the corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Rottenbucher Strasse.
And she enclosed a flyer from Sixt with the information - including a 10 euro starter voucher for free trials.
Two reserved parking spaces in Bahnhofstrasse
Mayor Peter Köstler said that he had already received several feedback from Graefelfingern over the weekend, who tried out car sharing from day one.
Some would have been disappointed that not the entire local area belongs to the business area in which the cars can simply be parked on public property for return.
However, this was a business decision by the company for which he understood.
The Sixt Share area in Graefelfing includes the town center including the following external borders: Maria-Eich-Straße in the west, Wolfart-Klinik and Bahnhofstraße in the south, Pasinger Straße and the entire commercial area Lochhamer Schlag in the west and Lochhamer Straße in the north.
According to Kathrin Risom, around five vehicles can be found in this area;
the number could of course vary between two and ten cars depending on customer movements.
The two reserved parking spaces in Bahnhofstrasse are just an additional offer for Sixt customers.
Easy to use
Using Sixt Share is very easy.
You download the Sixt app, register with your ID card, driver's license and photo and store a credit card (or SEPA) - done.
Neither a basic fee nor a guarantee are required for lending.
The variable kilometer price covers everything and is displayed before the start of the journey.
