By David Pitt
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The road to a greener New York became a little shorter Wednesday when the City Council approved a five-borough measure to encourage the inexpensive, environment-friendly and increasingly popular practice known as car sharing.
In car sharing, inexpensive cars, parked in designated locations, are made available for dirt-cheap rent at short notice — by the minute, the hour or the day. Users apply for membership and a special key. Cost of a rental for a day: about $50, including insurance and fuel.
The legislation, proposed last April by Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and the Department of Planning, mandates a change in zoning regulations to allow car-sharing companies to use public garages and parking lots. The city would determine how many cars can be parked and where.