Hire a car by the hour

City rental company expands to Brum

By PH Staff / Monday, 25 July 2005 / Loading comments

The urban motor?

Is this the future of urban motoring?

Streetcar, a company that rents you a car by the hour, is expanding to Birmingham. It already operates in London and Brighton, but to take on Motown UK would be a coup.

The membership-based scheme allows you to book a car out for any duration and collect the vehicle from a number of different central locations, getting into and locking it using a special swipe card. You then get a bill at the end of the month. It costs a one-off fee of £25 plus £4.95 an hour.

If you don't fancy subjecting your pride and joy to the rigours of city centre stop-start motoring, this might be a valid alternative. Sadly though, the cars themselves are just automatic Golfs -- but then, in a city centre, you could do worse...