GoTo rolls out new fleet for roundtrip service

GoTo has introduced a roundtrip service to give users the convenience of having a car available round the clock, whether for meetings, shopping or the weekend

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GoTo, the island’s first national car sharing solution, yesterday introduced a roundtrip service to give users the convenience of having a car available round the clock, whether for meetings, shopping or the weekend.

This new option serves like a personal car and gives drivers the facility of securing a vehicle three months in advance and keeping it for longer, unlike GoTo’s popular one-way service that can only be booked 15 minutes in advance.

Car Sharing Services Malta CEO Liran Golan said: “Our GoTo car sharing option has grown exponentially within just six months and we are witnessing a trend where those living in Malta are slowly seeking alternatives to owning a car — this new service continues to build on this green philosophy.”

This €8 million initiative, run by Car Sharing Services Malta, a subsidiary of CAR2GO Israel, and established in collaboration with Transport Malta, was introduced in Malta last November and has already surpassed expectations.

To date close to 6,500 drivers have registered to use its fleet of electric cars with an average of 600 trips a day being recorded. According to the latest international research, the carsharing market is growing at a rapid rate as governments introduce positive directives for such services.

This coupled with citizens’ increasing concerns over environmental degradation, as well as the high maintenance and upfront cost attached with personal cars, people are preferring shared mobility services for commuting.

GoTo’s new roundtrip service uses hybrid Toyotas and once the prepaid time is over all you have to do is just drop off the car at the same spot you picked it up from.

A total of 30 cars will be made available from 10 localities across Malta and Gozo starting this week. Contrary to the one-way service, these cars can only be accessed from private parking areas.

“Our goal is to offer an innovative, cost-efficient and convenient alternative to owning a car. This ties in with government plans to introduce alternative transportation modes, and reduce dependency on private cars,” Liran said.

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