Enterprise Rent-A-Car Neighborhood Network Advancing Local Mobility, Sustainability
Broughton: “The Enterprise network is unique in its coast-to-coast neighborhood coverage as well as its ability to support local citizens, businesses and government leaders as they develop long-term transportation plans and advocate a more sustainable future.”
ST. LOUIS– Dec. 29, 2011 – As the year draws to a close, Lee Broughton, head of corporate sustainability for Enterprise Holdings, has posted a blog about how the company’s commitment to local mobility comes to life through its neighborhood Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations – and how this extensive, one-of-a-kind car rental network continued to provide sustainable transportation options in thousands of communities throughout 2011.
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. Broughton’s blog was published on www.DrivingFutures.com, a website highlighting Enterprise’s long-term sustainability initiatives:
The Business of Sustainability and Local Mobility
Because Enterprise provides accessible, affordable and sustainable transportation options in thousands of communities of all sizes, we often reach out to organizations – such as the Transportation Sustainability Research Center and the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities initiative – to help broaden discussions and debates about local mobility.
This effort not only underscores the important role the car rental industry plays in the public policy arena, but also helps reframe some challenging issues with a new and different perspective. For example, many consumers rely on mass transit or simply cannot afford to purchase or maintain a vehicle on their own, yet depend on local Virtual Car® rental service, including car sharing, as a supplement during the week, plus on weekends and special occasions.
We also frequently reach out to the media to help vet and communicate some of these key concepts. After last summer’s Hurricane Irene, we issued a press release explaining how the extensive Enterprise Rent-A-Car neighborhood network has become an integral part of many cities’ and towns’ local transportation infrastructure, particularly when natural disasters hit.
During such critical times, our employees intuitively mobilize, quickly moving rental vehicles around the country and into affected areas. Then, once vehicles are in place, we help put utility companies, government agencies, insurance adjusters and CAT (catastrophe) teams on the road so that they can get the recovery and restoration process under way.
More recently, we announced that car rental reservations were up more than 20 percent in our neighborhood “home-city” branches for Christmas week 2011 – almost twice as much as rental reservations at the airport. One might wonder what this seasonal update has to do with corporate sustainability?
The fact is, this kind of growth directly reflects the social, environmental and economic importance of delivering flexible, cost-effective transportation solutions right where people live and work. And with more than 5,000 local offices located within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population, the Enterprise network is unique in its coast-to-coast neighborhood coverage as well as its ability to support local citizens, businesses and government leaders as they develop long-term transportation plans and advocate a more sustainable future for their hometowns.
About Enterprise Holdings
Through its regional subsidiaries, Enterprise Holdings owns and operates the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands, as well as its flagship Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand in North America. In addition, the company currently operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand in the UK, Germany and Ireland, and a licensee network that operates the National and Alamo brands throughout the Americas. Alamo, Enterprise and National also swept Executive Travel magazine’s 2011 “Leading Edge Awards” for the top three car rental brands in the travel industry. Further, Enterprise led the car rental industry for seven years in a row in an annual North American airport car rental survey, which includes both leisure and business travelers.
With annual revenues of $14.1 billion and more than 70,000 employees, Enterprise Holdings owns and operates more than 1.2 million cars and trucks, making it the largest car rental company in the world measured by revenue, employees and fleet. In addition, the company’s annual revenues place it near the top of the travel industry, exceeding many airlines and most cruise lines, hotels, tour operators and online travel agencies. Ranked No. 15 on the Forbes list of America’s Largest Private Companies, Enterprise Holdings is owned by the Taylor family and headquartered in St. Louis. Enterprise Holdings and its affiliates offer business and retail customers a total transportation solution, which includes hourly rental, car leasing, WeCar by Enterprise car sharing and Enterprise Rideshare vanpooling programs, as well as the Enterprise Car Sales, Enterprise Commercial Trucks and Enterprise Fleet Management business lines. For more information about Enterprise Holdings, visit www.enterpriseholdings.com. For more information about Enterprise Holdings’ Corporate Sustainability Report or the company’s environmental stewardship and long-term commitment to the sustainability of its business, visit www.DrivingFutures.com and follow @LeeBroughton on Twitter. This news release and other announcements are available at the Enterprise Holdings press room.