As Metro continues constant maintenance work at its rail stations, a car-sharing service owned by General Motors plans to add 75 vehicles in the District by Memorial Day weekend.
Maven, which moved into the city nearly two years ago, plans to have a total of 170 vehicles that range from compact cars such as the Chevy Spark to lavish SUVs such as the Cadillac Escalade.
Some of the 50 locations Maven vehicles are available for residents and visitors in neighborhoods and public garages include Columbia Heights in Northwest, the Waterfront in Southwest, Navy Yard in Southeast and Dupont Circle in Northwest.
Vehicle rates start at $8 an hour, or $80 per day with no membership fee.
Riders can access the Maven app through smartphones and iPhones. The company also provides OnStar services with keyless entry, Wi-Fi and roadside assistance.
Scott Hall, Maven’s East Coast region manager, said the company rents additional parking spaces from residents to park vehicles in proximity to a Metrorail station or bus stop.
“Our hope is to grow in every nook and cranny in the city,” Hall said in an interview Friday, May 12.
According to an interactive map and confirmed by Hall, no vehicles are currently available east of the Anacostia River.
“As we continue to evolve and expand into other areas of the city, [the company wants] folks that may not be in a five-minute or seven-minute walk of our vehicles to easily jump on a bus [and] to jump on a Metro line to get where our vehicles happen to be and let them take advantage of our service,” he said.
The company launch for more vehicles will happen May 26-27, the same weekend when Metro will complete final repairs on portions of the Red Line between the Dupont Circle and Van Ness stations in Northwest.
The transit agency will provide free shuttle bus service from those stations with stops in Woodley Park, Cleveland Park and the National Zoo. Zoo travelers who commute on the shuttle can receive a 20 percent discount on retail purchases at the zoo, according to Metro.
The shuttle buses can take free shuttle buses from the zoo entrance and travel back to a Red Line station.
“Our message to the region is, don’t let a little track work discourage you from taking a trip to the National Zoo during this great time of year to visit,” said Lynn Bowersox, Metro’s assistant general manager.
Metro also will prepare for a three-year, $300 million capital project to renovate outdoor platforms at 20 Metrorail stations. The project would begin next year in Northern Virginia that will affect the Blue and Yellow lines at Braddock Road, King Street and Eisenhower Avenue stations.
In the process, rail service south of Reagan National Airport will be shut down the summer of 2019. Those Metrorail stations include Huntington, Van Dorn Street and Franconia-Springfield.
Thirteen other station platforms scheduled for reconstruction in 2020-21 are:
• Maryland – West Hyattsville, College Park, Greenbelt, Cheverly, Landover, New Carrollton and Addison Road-Seat Pleasant.
• Virginia – Vienna, Dunn Loring, East Falls Church, West Falls Church and Arlington Cemetery.
• District – Rhode Island Avenue.
Some of the work will be coordinated with construction activities for the Purple Line light-rail project in Prince George’s County and Interstate 66 in Virginia.