The short-term vehicle rental company “car2go” announced Friday it end operations in Chicago at the end of the year.
In a post on its website, the company said it was pulling out of Chicago and four other North American cities after it “underestimated the investment and resources that are truly necessary to make our service successful in these complex transportation markets amid a quickly changing mobility landscape.”
Car2go rentals in Chicago will no longer be offered as of Jan. 1, 2020, less than two years after the company arrived here with 400 eco-friendly cars available to rent. The company is ending service Oct. 31 in Austin, Calgary, Denver and Portland.
It is an app-based service that lets users reserve rental cars, drive them and then leave them at designated parking spots. Rides cost between 29 cents and 39 cents per minute.
The company suspended services in Chicago earlier this year after a rash of vehicle thefts.
In April, 21 people were charged after more than 100 car2go-owned Mercedes-Benzes were stolen in the city.
