BMW Group has announced a suite of significant developments of ReachNow, its free-floating premium car sharing service, including expanding beyond the west coast and adding additional mobility services.
ReachNow has chosen Brooklyn as the third city for its operations, the first on the east coast, saying the selection is down to the borough’s vibrant culture and residents’ progressive and environmentally-conscious values. The company says ReachNow will serve as an extension to New York City’s subways and buses, offering additional flexibility to meet residents’ needs.
The service is based on a single app which offers a range of transport options to create a mobility services ecosystem. Over the coming months, several new services will be piloted.
Driver hire
From early December, a new on-demand “ride” service will trial in Seattle, allowing ReachNow members to order a driver as well as schedule individual and recurring rides in a ReachNow BMW vehicle.
As the initial test phase continues, ReachNow will expand the ride service with additional features, including the ability to personalize the vehicle, with temperature and music preferences as well as a “do not disturb” for members who wish to have a more restful experience, and a loyalty program to earn ride credits for use across all ReachNow services. The ReachNow ride scheduling feature will be widely available to members in early 2017.
In another development, ReachNow “fleet solutions” will offer residential members exclusive use of BMW i3 electric vehicles and BMW 3 Series cars that remain onsite at select apartment and condominium buildings or complexes. ReachNow fleet solutions for residential buildings will begin at The Solaire, in Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood next month.
Owner vehicle rental
In a separate initiative, Mini owners of 2016 or 2017 model year vehicles are invited to join the ReachNow “share” pilot program in Seattle. Share enables Mini owners to rent their vehicles via ReachNow when they do not need access to their car themselves, helping to offset the cost of car ownership. Vehicles can be rented for a minimum of two days.
Beginning in October ReachNow members who wanted to use the vehicles for longer trips of two to five days could select a vehicle via the ReachNow app and see multi-day price caps automatically applied. To make longer usage even more convenient, ReachNow “reserve” will enable members to schedule a vehicle to be delivered at their preferred time and location. This expanded service will begin in Seattle in early 2017.
“When we first launched the ReachNow service in April, we discussed plans for several mobility services that would make our more than 32,000 members’ lives easier and more convenient. Today, just under eight months and more than 1.2 million member miles later, we are delivering on those plans and continuing to build upon the successes of ReachNow by offering ride, share, reserve, and fleet solutions within one ReachNow app, a first for the industry,” said Steve Banfield, ReachNow CEO.
“With three of these new services rolling out in our home headquarters city of Seattle and one in our newest ReachNow location in Brooklyn, we expect ReachNow will continue to grow rapidly as a welcomed addition to one of the biggest and most diverse cities in the world,” he added.
Scheme background
ReachNow is designed to provide drivers with an experience that is as convenient as owning a car. The user experience is premium and affordable, with fast mobile registration and an almost instant approval process – often in two minutes or less, which the company claims is a first for any car sharing service. The initial fleet of 250 vehicles in Brooklyn includes the BMW 3 Series and the Mini Clubman. There are also nearly 800 vehicles in Seattle and Portland combined, including the electric BMW i3, BMW 3 Series, Mini Cooper and Mini Clubman, with plans for fleet expansion. Membership gives drivers access to any available vehicle in any fleet in any city.
ReachNow members can locate and book the closest available car in the ReachNow app or find a ReachNow car on the street. Cars can be returned to any legal parking space on the street within the city’s designated home area.
ReachNow free-floating car sharing vehicles are typically charged at a standard rate of $0.49 for each minute the vehicle is used, and $0.30 per minute while parked, with a one-time lifetime registration fee of $39. For a limited time as part of an introductory offer, ReachNow will charge just $0.41 for each minute the vehicle is used and registration is free of charge. All prices are inclusive of insurance, fuel and parking at public meters (applicable to Seattle and Portland) on the street within the designated home area, plus taxes and fees.
ReachNow automatically caps pricing at multiple different tiers: $50 for up to 3 hours, $80 for up to 12 hours, and $110 for up to 24 hours. As part of the reserve service that will launch in early 2017, ReachNow has added price caps for trips lasting two to five days: $180 for up to 48 hours, $250 for up to 72 hours, $300 for up to 96 hours, and $350 for up to 120 hours.
ReachNow is available via the App Store and on Google Play. The new ReachNow mobility services will be combined into a single app for testers only. Following the initial test phase, ReachNow will expand the pilot program to current members in the local market.
