Maven — the car-sharing and car rental service — is exiting from eight major cities including Boston, Chicago, and New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company is expected to wind down service in the designated cities by the end of July to focus on less competitive markets.
Maven wants to “concentrate on markets in which we have the strongest current demand and growth potential,” one company spokeswoman told WSJ.
Maven’s operations in Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Toronto will continue; however, its transition out of some of the biggest cities in the U.S. highlights some of the accelerated changes happening in transportation-tech.
Last month, New York City council passed a bill to decongest the city’s streets of ride-hailing cars by posing a cap on the number of drivers companies could have on the road. The law also required Uber and Lyft to improve pay for its drivers. Both companies, whose drivers sometimes rent cars from Maven, stopped hiring new drivers after the law passed.
Lyft sued New York City in January, alleging the new rules would create unfair competition between ride-hailing companies and taxis, but the move was blocked by a state judge earlier this month. Uber has also sued the city over its car limit.
Other ride-sharing and car sharing services in the city like Via, Zipcar, and Car2Go are added competition for Maven, so the company is cutting its losses and leaving.
