Toronto-bound: Maven car sharing service heads to Canada

Rates start as low as 9 loonies per hour.

General Motors' car sharing service, Maven, is set to expand across the northern US border for the first time.

Maven will continue its North American takeover by heading to Toronto, Canada's largest city. It isn't just dipping its toes in the water, either -- at launch, Maven will offer 40 vehicles across GM's vast portfolio, including several models of Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.

Car ownership is growing increasingly optional, especially in cities that have both car sharing options and stout public transport options.
Maven

Grabbing a car with Maven is as easy as opening up the app, applying for a free membership and securing a vehicle. There's no membership fee, so you only pay for using the car, which will start at CAD$9 (about USD$7) per hour. Maven selected a wide variety of parking locations across Toronto based on where it expects its users to hang out -- Toronto natives can expect to see Maven cars in Bloor West Village, The Entertainment District, Ryerson University, Financial District and several other spots.

Since it has the backing of a major auto manufacturer, all the cars available through Maven are brand spanking new, and thus come equipped with all sorts of tech, like a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotpost, Apple CarPlay and satellite radio.

The launch of Maven follows the recent opening of our Canadian Technical Centre-Markham Campus, the largest automotive technology development centre of its kind in Canada, and furthers our ability to bring new solutions to existing problems and redefine the future of mobility in Toronto and beyond.

Said Steve Carlisle, president of GM Canada, in a statement.

Maven's portfolio of products doesn't end with car sharing. The company also runs Maven Gig, which allows users to rent a Chevrolet Bolt EV by the week for gig-economy jobs like Uber or GrubHub. This one's only available in certain US locations for now, but if it passes regulatory muster, it wouldn't be a surprise if it expanded to other places where Maven has a foothold -- and a supply of Bolt EVs.

Chevy Bolt brings big EV convenience in a small package

source:CNet Roadshow