Just over two years since General Motors-backed car-sharing app Maven debuted in Baltimore, the company is leaving town.
“After serious consideration, our Maven Car Sharing business in Baltimore including our peer-to-peer car sharing operations will no longer be available as of June 21,” a company spokesperson told Baltimore Fishbowl via email.
We’ve requested details on how many users and cars Maven has in the city.
Those with the app received an alert of the impending local departure yesterday. “We want to thank you for being a part of the Maven community in Baltimore,” said a message shared in a local Facebook group. “We enjoyed having you as a member.”
The startup will continue offering Maven Gig, a rental service for those doing rideshare and delivery work for firms like Lyft, Uber, Grubhub and Postmates, the spokesperson noted. However, Maven’s primary offering of car-sharing for everyday users will cease locally.
“This is part of a broader effort to concentrate Maven on future growth opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
Indeed it is. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Maven is leaving eight of 17 participating cities in North America, including larger markets such as Boston and Chicago. Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto and Washington D.C. are among the locales where it’ll remain.
Maven launched in 2016 and arrived in Baltimore the following year, rolling out about 40 cars for hourly or daily rental around town. Technical.ly reported at the time that the company was offering a mix of Chevrolet Cruze sedans and Tahoe SUVs, parking them in designated spots in Federal Hill, Fells Point, Mount Vernon and near the Johns Hopkins University campus.
East Coast manager Scott Hall Maven explained they were hoping to reach markets with limited parking and populations shifting away from car ownership. “It’s a logical extension for us to come into the Baltimore market,” he said at the time
Competing car-sharing services such as ZipCar and Turo are still serving Baltimore’s vehicle-less drivers, as are the more conventional rental companies like Hertz, Avis and Enterprise.
