DENVER, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Holdings today announced that it is purchasing OccasionalCar, which has been providing leading-edge car-sharing services in Denver since 2009.    

Enterprise Holdings, through its regional subsidiaries, operates the flagship Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand as well as the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. The company, the most comprehensive service provider in the car rental industry, also offers Enterprise CarShare – with a suite of products and policies specifically geared to the car-sharing customer experience – and Enterprise Rideshare, a leading carpooling and vanpooling program for commuters. It likewise operates Zimride by Enterprise, an online ride-matching program that connects hundreds of thousands of drivers and passengers, while partnering with colleges and universities to facilitate transportation-management solutions.

The acquisition closes today; financial terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.

"We remain committed to providing sustainable transportation options and are excited to include OccasionalCar members as part of our local network," said Ryan Johnson, assistant vice president overseeing Enterprise's CarShare, Rideshare and Zimride operations.

OccasionalCar – which will operate under its current brand through the end of the summer – will be served by Enterprise CarShare, a natural extension of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car network. Enterprise already operates almost 90 car rental branch offices in Colorado, with 20 offices within the City of Denver. In addition, Enterprise has been offering car-sharing services on the University of Denver campus to students and the DU community since 2011.

As a result, Enterprise is ideally positioned to run a successful, sustainable car-sharing program in an environmentally focused community like Denver, with a lower member-to-car ratio, a fuel-efficient fleet and a commitment to deliver well-maintained, clean and up-to-date vehicles.

Today, Enterprise CarShare is available on more than 75 university campuses, 40 government and business campuses in North America, and in nearly 20 major markets including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Toronto. Enterprise CarShare offers hybrid, plug-in and fuel-efficient vehicles, delivering car-sharing technology's speed and economy to businesses, universities and government offices looking to enhance their fleet management operations along with their fiscal and social sustainability initiatives.

Sustainable Transportation Since 1957
Enterprise has a well-documented leadership role in providing affordable, accessible and sustainable transportation options. In fact, the company has been delivering transportation alternatives right where people live and work since 1957, an early example of today's "collaborative consumption" trend. Forty years later, it trademarked the term Virtual Car®, after recognizing the long-term impact of such a sustainable neighborhood-based business model – and even featured the "virtual car" concept in a newspaper ad as early as 1997.

Because of Enterprise's track record, OccasionalCar founder Russell Straub views the company as an ideal partner for moving car sharing forward in Denver. "We see the local car rental and car-sharing business models continuing to meld together over the long run," Straub noted. "So there is no one better positioned than Enterprise to lead the way in Denver."

"Triple Bottom Line" Stewardship
Last fall, Enterprise CarShare was a key sponsor at the Shared Use Mobility Conference, hosted by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. That is because Enterprise Holdings is a family-owned business, intuitively focused on the need to operate for the long term and with the next generation in mind.  

This sense of "triple bottom line" stewardship is reflected in Enterprise's other partnerships with key stakeholders, too. For instance, Enterprise has joined forces with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the largest independent plant research center in the world, to establish the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels. The Institute's aim is to create the next generation of alternative fuel technologies from environmentally sound plant and algal sources, thus reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and our dependence on non-renewable resources.  

The company also is working in 2014 with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 1 million trees throughout the United States, and the United Kingdom as part of the Enterprise 50 Million Tree Pledge. Supported by a $50-million commitment from Enterprise, the private/public/nonprofit partnership already has resulted in nearly 9 million trees being planted in areas suffering damage from wildfires and other natural disasters (an interactive map of the plantings is available online). For example, by the end of 2014, Enterprise will have funded the planting of 324,800 trees in Colorado. In the Pike National Forest, 224,800 new trees are repairing damage caused by the 1996 and 2002 wildfires to the upper South Platte watershed – the primary water source for Denver. In the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests – which were damaged in 2010 by the Beaver Fire that burned 800 acres of land – the 100,000 trees planted in 2011 were the first of two planting projects that will reduce the length of time for the forest to re-establish itself from 100 years to approximately 10 years.

For more information about Enterprise Holdings' corporate sustainability initiatives, please see its www.DrivingFutures.com website, plus its most recent Corporate Sustainability Report.

About Enterprise Holdings
Enterprise Holdings and its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management together offer a total transportation solution. Combined, these businesses – which include extensive car rental and car-sharing services, commercial truck rental, corporate fleet management and retail car sales – accounted for $16.4 billion in revenue, employed 78,000 and operated 1.4 million vehicles throughout the world in fiscal year 2013. Enterprise Holdings, through its regional subsidiaries, operates the largest fleet of vehicles in the world through a global network of neighborhood and airport locations under the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. Enterprise Fleet Management provides full-service fleet management to companies and organizations with medium-sized fleets. Other transportation services marketed under the Enterprise brand name include Enterprise CarShare, Enterprise Rideshare, Enterprise Car Sales and Enterprise Commercial Trucks. Operating through its regional subsidiaries, Enterprise Holdings is the largest car rental company in the world as measured by revenue, fleet and employees.

SOURCE Enterprise Holdings