In December 2016, BMW’s ReachNow car sharing service in Brooklyn was put on hold due to vehicle maintenance issues and a problem with the app displaying the correct number of cars, according to BMW. The service was said to resume operations in early January.
At the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, BMW told us that the ReachNow service has resumed operations on January 10th and will continue to be offered to New York residents. Last week, customers were still having issues booking a car, mostly related to lack of availability in the app.
According to a ReachNow customer, at certain time points in the day, the ReachNow mobile app showed “hundreds of cars available on the West Coast, but zero in Brooklyn.”
We’ve reached out to BMW North America and ReachNow for an updated on the issues encountered by customers.
“The latest version of our mobile App for IOS & Android released on Thursday, January 12 fixed a problem that some members in Brooklyn were experiencing where available vehicles were not appearing on the map,” Dana Goldin of ReachNow told BMWBLOG. “If Brooklyn members are continuing to experience this issue after updating to the latest App, we ask that they notify ReachNow Member Support at support@reachnow.com.”
The Brooklyn “Home Area” spans north to Greenpoint and Williamsburg, south to Sunset Park, and east to include portions of Borough Park, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Bushwick.
ReachNow is designed to provide drivers with an experience that is as convenient as owning a car. The user experience is premium and affordable, with fast mobile registration and an almost instant approval process – often in two minutes or less – a first for any car sharing service. The initial fleet of 250 vehicles in Brooklyn includes the BMW 3 Series and the MINI Clubman. There are also nearly 800 vehicles in Seattle and Portland combined, including the electric BMW i3, BMW 3 Series, MINI Cooper and MINI Clubman, with plans for fleet expansion. Membership gives drivers access to any available vehicle in any fleet in any city.
