city carshare was founded as the first carsharing program in the san francisco bay area , and remains the only non-profit program in the metropolitan region .

it provides its members with the use of fuel-efficient vehicles by the hour .

city carshare

more than 180 city of berkeley employees are enrolled in the city’s carshare program , said the city’s transportation planner matthew nichols .
to become a member of city carshare visit : urltoken or call 352 - 0323 .
to see the program’s impact on city carshare members , testimonials can be viewed here .
membership in san francisco’s non - profit city carshare has jumped 20 percent in recent months .
here ' s city carshare in the
old days
, also back in 2002 .
the new van will be shared by city employees and disabled city carshare members monday to friday from 8 a . m . to 6 p . m . , and available to all city carshare members on evenings and weekends .
city carshare is a non - profit . because of that , it got the city to set aside special spots for their cars .
fleet . city carshare is adding one additional vehicle to berkeley and introducing two to the city of san francisco . in 2008 , city carshare introduced the nation ' s first wheelchair - accessible carsharing vehicle in partnership with the city of berkeley and berkeley’s commission on disability .
the new zio ziegler - designed electric fleet from city carshare will get you home in style .
for more information , visit urltoken . follow city carshare on facebook and twitter and google + .
city carshare & @ toyota urltoken launch new # carsharing program , # dash , at hacienda in pleasanton .
city carshare is adding three wheelchair - accessible minivans to its accessmobile fleet - - one additional vehicle to berkeley and introducing two to the city of san francisco .
i have used city carshare for quite a few years . i was able to overlook some of the difficulties for…
visit city carshare online urltoken follow ccs on facebook , twitter , instagram , google + and linkedin to stay connected .
city councilmember dona spring uses the accessmobile’s manual fold ramp to exit the van during a test drive friday evening . city carshare will launch the nation’s first wheelchair - accessible carshare van today ( tuesday ) in partnership with the city of berkeley at the martin luther king jr . civic center .
perlita p . , a tipster and city carshare member , is even more upset by the transition , as she ' s no longer able to book city carshare ' s wheelchair - accessible accessmobile vans—which she was planning to do this week .
founded in 2001 , city carshare is the original carsharing community of the bay area , and over the past 15 years , the nonprofit has grown to serve over 50 , 000 members . in june 2015 , city carshare partnered with mobility and transportation expert carma technology in a strategic alliance , and rebranded the bay area carsharing organization to city carshare powered by carma .
the city got rid of its fleet of 10 cars in 2004 and replaced it with hybrid city carshare vehicles . the cars are used by councilmembers , the city’s public health nurses , traffic engineers and environmental health and housing staff .
the recent getaround acquisition of city carshare means there ' s going to be some overlap of the two systems as they consolidate ,
thornley said . getaround is gradually re - branding city carshare vehicles and pods with getaround signage , but there will be dual - branded city carshare / getaround vehicles at some pods for at least a little while , thornley explains .
city carshare was originally founded in 2001 as the only nonprofit carsharing service in the san francisco bay area with a mission to reduce car ownership . in august of 2015 , city carshare merged operations with carma in a strategic alliance to combine and strengthen their shared mobility services .
darin ranelletti , an oakland city planner , said that these plans often include transit pass incentives , extra bicycle parking and an in - house car - share program such as zipcar or city carshare .
the two companies have already started to onboard city carshare ' s fleet of vehicles to getaround with an expected completion date monday , november 14th . existing city carshare members are able to easily migrate their accounts to getaround ' s platform by visting urltoken or through the carma app .
city carshare spokesperson anita daley said that disabled members of the community would not be subject to a screening process or required to have any prerequisites .
tipster mark w . was the first to alert us to the change , telling us that city carshare reservations from november 9th onward were no longer available . as of yesterday , the city carshare platform is no longer online , and users who try to log in are forwarded to getaround .
“since our initial partnership with city carshare four years ago , we’ve witnessed access mobile’s positive impact on the lives of hundreds of city carshare members who now have the freedom to decide where they want to go and how they want to get there , ” says tom bates , mayor of berkeley .
city carshare said it has cars available on site at 10 developments in san francisco and has agreements to go into eight others within the next year .
i was a member of city carshare before i worked there . one day i was out driving back in 2004 and i passed someone else in a city carshare car . there weren’t too many of them at the time , so we both noticed and kind of smiled and waved to each other .
update , 11 / 16 : since the announcement of the acquisition , getaround logos have been added to a number of city carshare vehicles , and many have wondered how the two companies will share their parking spaces in the city , some of which are on public property and city streets .
a disabled city carshare member will have to pay $ 6 . 50 per hour to use the accessmobile—which includes gas , insurance and maintenance , hutchinson said .
officials at the other car - sharing operations agree . city carshare ' s mission , hutchinson said , is not to make money but to reduce car ownership , and pollution , congestion and oil dependence . city carshare laid the groundwork and established the market that attracted the two for - profits , he said .
we ' ve enjoyed strong community support from the beginning and have partnered successfully with local transportation agencies and other community groups ,
city carshare said .
carshare now offering wheelchair - accessible vans . category : page one from the berkeley daily planet
carshare in the bay area has gone from zero to sixty in the last few years .
city carshare previously declined to comment on the fate of the accessmobile vans ; we ' ll follow up to see if we can get more information on their future .
about city carshare city carshare ( ccs ) is the only nonprofit carsharing service in the san francisco bay area . the mission of ccs is to improve the environment and quality of life in bay area communities by promoting innovative mobility options . since 2001 , ccs has had a measurable impact in the way communities live , breathe , work and play .
berkeley used $ 25 , 000 in award money from winning the 2007 national organization on disability’s accessible american contest to split the cost with city carshare , which matched the amount .
a 2006 study done by the university of california , berkeley , found that the city carshare program could save 25 million pounds of carbon emissions in a year in the bay area .
in 2001 , a group of californian transport activists launched city carshare with the help of several local non - profit companies and the cities of san francisco , oakland , and berkeley .
the third part of our target market is inner - city businesses .
when no city carshare spots are available behind the civic center at 2180 milvia st . to park the van , spring has given permission for the van to use her personal parking spot .
on thursday , car - sharing company getaround announced a new partnership with bay area car - sharing nonprofit city carshare and its owner - operator , carma . as the chronicle reports , city carshare will remain in business as an independent nonprofit , but it will lease its fleet of approximately 200 vehicles ( and associated parking spaces ) to getaround , which will take a commission .
“our mission is to provide convenient , affordable access to carsharing for everyone and that includes those with disabilities , ” says rick hutchinson , ceo of city carshare . “with more access mobiles available on both sides of the bay , the program illustrates our ongoing commitment to equity in transportation and city carshare’s drive to serve the needs of our community , not our bottom line . ”
“city carshare is pleased to introduce pleasanton’s first electric carsharing vehicles at hacienda , through our dash fleet , ” said rick hutchinson , ceo of city carshare . “by providing a carsharing option for commuters , we are working towards our goal to take 20 , 000 cars off of bay area roads by 2020 , while promoting and encouraging transit , walking , carpooling and cycling . ”
we ' ve asked getaround to continue operating city carshare ' s on - street pods unchanged , until we deliver our pilot evaluation and recommendations to the sfmta board ,
thornley said .
“city carshare is pleased to introduce pleasanton’s first electric carsharing vehicles at the hacienda , through our dash fleet , ” said rick hutchinson , ceo of city carshare . “by providing a carsharing option for commuters , we are working towards our goal to take 20 , 000 cars off of bay area roads by 2020 , while promoting and encouraging transit , walking , carpooling , and cycling . ”
rick hutchinson , chief executive officer for city carshare , estimates that about 13 , 000 people actively participate in bay area car - sharing operations . about 4 , 000 joined in the past year .
“city carshare is pleased to introduce pleasanton’s first electric car - sharing vehicles at hacienda , through our dash fleet , ” said rick hutchinson , ceo of city carshare . “by providing a car - sharing option for commuters , we are working towards our goal to take 20 , 000 cars off of bay area roads by 2020 , while promoting and encouraging transit , walking , carpooling and cycling . ”
that could change with today’s ( tuesday ) launch of accessmobile—the nation’s first wheelchair - accessible car share van—by bay area - based non - profit city carshare at the martin luther king jr . civic center .
so many people in the bay area are interested in car - sharing that two for - profit companies have joined nonprofit pioneer city carshare in the market - - and all three are surviving and growing .
this is the second city launch for viavan , following its launch in amsterdam last month .
update , 4 : 20pm : a press representative for getaround says that the city carshare users we spoke to misunderstood many elements of the transition , most notably the alleged transfer of credit card data without permission .
no city carshare users had their information or credit card details migrated to the getaround platform without their knowledge . . . [ using getaround ] was an opt - in process only ,
she said .
in partnership with toyota motor sales usa inc . , city carshare , a nonprofit car - sharing organization , recently launched a new car - sharing program called dash at hacienda business park in pleasanton , calif .
jones appeared with rick hutchison , chief executive officer of city carshare , a bay area nonprofit car - sharing organization , and sunil paul , chief executive officer of spride , a san francisco car - sharing startup .
“city carshare’s gift of mobility allows even more people , especially those with disabilities , the opportunity to live independently and become fully participating members of their communities , ” says dmitri belser , president of ed roberts campus .
the sustainable commuting program offers incentives to city employees to encourage them to come to city hall each day by walking , biking , or car pooling , all funded through charging employees for parking .
in addition to car share pods in private and public garages and parking lots all over the city , there are around 140 on - street car share pods divided between city carshare , getaround , and zipcar as part of an sfmta pilot project that ' s testing the notion of using curb parking for car - share pods .
assembymember dave jones ( middle , d - sacramento ) was joined by spride ceo sunil paul ( left ) and city carshare ceo rick hutchison ( right ) to announce legislation allowing individual car owners to participate in . . . more
oakland city officials are launching a new tip line and reward fund for information leading to arson arrests .
sorry , no iconic green vw beetle on their home page at the time . ( comically , zipcar actually threatened city carshare with legal action claiming that zipcar had trademarked the green beetle , even though citycarshare started using them first . )
we partner with toyota to offer corporations an innovative high - capacity commute and carshare service for employees to reduce parking and carbon emissions .
the city , which pays the standard carshare rate of $ 5 per hour and 40 cents per mile for the service , has saved a significant amount of money from the program , about $ 50 , 000 per year , he said .
city carshare’s dash® will provide battery powered transportation options to the nearly 20 percent of the park’s employees that use alternative transportation methods to get to work . the cars will allow employees to attend local meetings and run errands . dash’s launch at hacienda will also encourage single - car commuters to use public transit and / or join a carpool / vanpool and become carsharing members . employees who join city carshare will be able to use the electric vehicles by the hour for a low cost .
city carshare’s dash™ will provide battery powered transportation options to the nearly 20 percent of the park’s employees that use alternative transportation methods to get to work . the cars will allow employees to attend local meetings and run errands . dash’s launch at hacienda will also encourage single - car commuters to use public transit and / or join a carpool / vanpool and become carsharing members . employees who join city carshare will be able to use the electric vehicles by the hour for a low cost .
why own a car when you can share one ? that ' s the approach taken by san francisco city car share , a non - profit organisation which aims to reduce the number of vehicles in the city .
“city carshare’s dash will provide battery - powered transportation options to the nearly 20 percent of the park’s employees that use alternative transportation methods to get to work . the cars will allow employees to attend local meetings and run errands . dash’s launch at hacienda will also encourage single - car commuters to use public transit and / or join a carpool / vanpool and become carsharing members . employees who join city carshare will be able to use the electric vehicles by the hour for a low cost . ”
what ' s in all this for toyota ? the project is managed by city carshare , so it ' s unclear whether toyota will see any financial gain . however , according to toyota ' s craig scott ,
toyota is exploring new business models like the city carshare dash fleet to meet the future mobility needs of our customers . the scion iq ev fleet will help us understand how electric vehicles are used in an active car sharing program and the viability of this type of program for future technologies .
city carshare , a bay area nonprofit , that provides “ convenient , affordable access to shared cars in order to reduce individual car ownership and usage , ” together with toyota , announced a new carsharing fleet called dash at the bay area suburban business center .
“conversations with developers are definitely starting to become more green - oriented , ” said rick hutchison , ceo of city carshare . “in the last year , developers have seen that car sharing is not only good for communities but it makes sense for the environment . ”
“to prepare for the fleet consolidation announcement with getaround , the online reservation system underwent some changes , most likely causing glitches with bookings , ” city carshare spokesperson stephanie yang told us yesterday , adding that members should be able to reserve cars once they join getaround .
dash , a three - year pilot program , will offer short distance transportation options for both employers’ business needs and for their carpool , vanpool and public transportation commuters . according to city carshare , toyota is providing 30 scion iq electric vehicles to the dash fleet .
council has implemented an extensive program to reduce the environmental impact caused by the city ' s vehicles and heavy equipment .
representatives for both companies said the arrangement would benefit city carshare ' s 20 , 000 active users , allowing them to take advantage of getaround ' s superior technology ( which allows locking and unlocking of cars with a smartphone ) and lower , monthly - fee - free prices .
–the city of los angeles is reconsidering a strategy to incentivize car - sharing program growth through the use of public spaces .
in other words , while city carshare has eco - friendly goals like taking cars off the road and reducing co2 emissions , toyota aims to learn more about how electric - car drivers use their vehicles - - presumably so that the company can tailor future rides to meet consumer needs .
carshare portland is recognized as the first official car sharing operation in the united states . portland resident and car sharing expert ( and editor of the excellent carsharingus blog ) dave brook launched carshare portland in 1998 with one car and a few neighbors and the operation eventually grew to about 20 cars . in 2000 , a boston couple started zipcar . seattle ' s flexcar was also formed in 2000 and eventually bought carshare portland and in late 2007 flexcar and zipcar agreed to merge .
city carshare opened the first car - sharing service in the bay area in 2001 with a fleet of eye - catching green volkswagen beetles that have since been retired . in 2005 , the two national , for - profit firms - - zipcar and flexcar - - moved into the market .
for further details about city carshare please contact sheryl so at landis communications , inc . ( 415 ) 359 - 2313 ; sheryl @ urltoken or hilary burns at landis communications , inc . : ( 415 ) 561 - 0888 ; hilary @ urltoken . images and video are available at urltoken
since my last post , i ' ve used city car share about 6 times a year . usually i use the pickup truck…
the city’s paratransit services manager angellique decoud said she revised the taxi scrip program in 2005 to make it more available to disabled residents .
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“city carshare , like carma , has been a pioneer in the shared mobility space , ” said lawrence mulligan , ceo of carma . “we’re delighted to join our families , as we take this next step towards extending the convenience and flexibility of our combined services to more people throughout the bay area . ”
assembymember dave jones ( middle , d - sacramento ) was joined by spride ceo sunil paul ( left ) and city carshare ceo rick hutchison ( right ) to announce legislation allowing individual car owners to participate in vehicle sharing fleets in san francisco , calif . , on wednesday , april 28 , 2010 . less
the difference is , dash ' s fleet consists entirely of electric cars - - specifically , 30 scion iq ev electric vehicles . that ' s nearly one - third of the 100 iq evs made to date . the vehicles will be rented for low , hourly rates to hacienda employees who join city carshare .
elizabeth sullivan , the first person to join city car share , says she got rid of her own car in order to save money .
we then have a second car market , which are inner - city couples with families with one car and occasionally need a second .
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city carshare powered by carma already has the greenest carsharing fleet in the u . s . —50 percent of the rides are electric , plugin hybrid or hybrid models—but now , as part of the new partnership , the company is unleashing a new electric fleet / art project on the streets of san francisco and berkeley .
“city carshare is pleased to introduce pleasanton’s first electric carsharing vehicles at hacienda , through our dash fleet . by providing a carsharing option for commuters , we are working towards our goal to take 20 , 000 cars off of bay area roads by 2020 , while promoting and encouraging transit , walking , carpooling and cycling . ”
car - sharing perks extend to parking , too . shared cars , trucks , and vans have dedicated parking spaces in private parking lots and on city streets . city bylaws also allow shared vehicles to park in
resident only
and
no parking except with permit
areas .
“we are delighted to have joined forces with city carshare , ” said sean o’sullivan , carma board chair . “we now have the platform to disrupt the transportation community in the bay area by not only offering a comprehensive and diverse set of transport options , but by extending options to meet demand in the more suburban communities . ”
“not only has city carshare proven to be a leader in offering green transportation , but it also is leading the way in giving people with disabilities a new way to get around , ” said edwin m . lee , mayor of san francisco . “this is a great step towards ensuring san francisco is accessible to everyone . ”
–zipcar and the city of pasadena are collaborating on a new pilot program which builds on the operator’s success with an on - street pilot program .
“pleasanton and hacienda are extremely excited about the launch of this program which will offer more convenience to the thousands of commuters into our city each day , ” said pleasanton mayor jerry thorne . “the opportunity for exposure to the new scion iq ev should bolster program appeal and dovetail with the city’s goals . ”
linda johnson , 40 , director of a nonprofit arts organization , is equally satisfied with city carshare , which has a different rate structure , charging $ 10 monthly dues , $ 4 an hour and 44 cents a mile . the per - mile charge , hutchinson said , is designed to encourage shorter trips so more members can use the cars .
for further details about city carshare’s dash or to schedule an interview , please contact camille priselac at landis communications , inc . : ( 917 ) 703 - 1660 ; camille @ urltoken or donna berry glass at landis communications , inc . : ( 415 ) 561 - 0888 ; donna @ urltoken . images and video are available to download at urltoken
for further details about city carshare’s dash or to schedule an interview , please contact camille priselac at landis communications , inc . : ( 917 ) 703 - 1660 ; camille @ urltoken or donna berry glass at landis communications , inc . : ( 415 ) 561 - 0888 ; donna @ urltoken . images and video are available to download at urltoken
cold summers , thick fog , and beautiful views . welcome to the subreddit for the gorgeous city by the bay ! san francisco , california , usa .
assembymember dave jones ( middle , d - sacramento ) was joined by spride ceo sunil paul ( left ) and city carshare ceo rick hutchison ( right ) to announce legislation allowing individual car owners to participate in vehicle sharing fleets in san francisco , calif . , on wednesday , april 28 , 2010 . example of a spride car in background . less
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we believe strongly that getaround is an ideal match for city carshare ,
said lawrence mulligan , ceo of carma .
not only does getaround share our mission and community values , but it also brings amazing new benefits for our members . joining up with getaround is a great local solution to what we believe is a growing national need for access to shared cars .
access mobiles are minivans which can hold up to two people using mobility devices and up to three more passengers and a driver . the vehicles are available 24 / 7 to any city carshare member . the cost is $ 8 . 25 / hour or lower during night owl hours ( midnight – 8 a . m . ) , or $ 64 per day , plus mileage .
i use a wheelchair full - time . with the access mobile , i’ve been able to travel outside of san francisco to visit many places - now i have an option , ” says gary parent , city carshare member since 2010 . “if i see something i’d like to do or a place i’d like to go , there’s nothing stopping me . that feeling is priceless .
“we specifically have a city carshare membership to be able to use the wheelchair vans ,
she said , noting that getaround ' s website makes no reference as to when they will return .
this is a vital service for people with disabilities , and we found out that the vans were being discontinued when we were going to alter a reservation that we had had for many months now .
also , the bikes will all be co - located with city carshare cars , which is important because we want to provide an option that’s very convenient . it will be almost a passive decision making process – you don’t have to learn a new system . just go online and reserve a vehicle like you normally do , except you’ll now have an option to pick a bike instead of a car .
carma , a world leader in commuter solutions , and city carshare , the original bay area carsharing network , have announced their partnership . this strategic alliance allows the organizations to merge operations ; creating new services that will transform the way users travel in cities and across the region . through the integration of technologies and systems , a new organization , will provide expanded commuting , carsharing , and other shared mobility services .
the profile is inner - city working professionals who don ' t own a car and catch public transport to work ,
ms conheady , flexicar ' s chief executive , said .
“it just made sense , ” city carshare ceo rick hutchinson said . “we were looking at how to expand our services to senior centers , low - income and moderate income families , and this seemed like a great first step . but we don’t want to compete with public transportation . before people jump into any of our cars , we make sure they have explored other alternatives , such as biking , walking or the bus . ”
the scheme aims to ease city congestion , parking hassles and environmental abuse by giving current car owners a reason to give up their vehicles while still being able to drive when they need to .
car - sharing has been around for almost 15 years in california , beginning with the founding of city carshare in san francisco back in 2001 . in recent years , southern california has become a proving ground for new shared mobility models , with developments in bike - sharing and ride - sourcing popping up so quickly that it can be hard to keep track . meanwhile , however , progress in neighborhood - based car - sharing has been slower to advance .
this coming summer city carshare will be launching an e - bike program in san francisco and berkeley that , as far as we know , will be the first of its kind in the nation . the bikes will have pedal assist with a motor in the back wheel , which will be helpful since the areas we’re launching in have a lot of hills . we’ll also be introducing cargo bikes . both will be customized and built specifically with sharing in mind .
city leaders hoped the ordinance would encourage residents to drive less , and lawrence badiner , zoning administrator and assistant planning director for san francisco , said most developers are eager to provide access to alternative transportation .
carshare _ 0004 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , gets inside a nissan versa , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share service at a parking lot at 2nd and howard streets in san francisco , ca , on . . . more
carshare _ 0003 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , holds the zipcar card she uses to unlock the zipcar inside a nissan versa , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share service in san francisco , ca , on . . . more
carshare _ 0007 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , walks away from a zipcar space in a lot on 2nd and howard streets , after returning the nissan versa she drove , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share . . . more
like other developers , forest city enterprises , the firm behind the uptown , is incorporating green into its developments as environmental sustainability becomes more popular and alternative transportation options for residents are key features for many potential residents .
forest city worked with zipcar , a massachusetts - based car sharing service , to offer a free annual memberships to residents . users pay only an hourly use fee , which can be as low as $ 7 .
this lack of progress may be partly due to car - sharing’s tumultuous history in the city of angels . car - sharing began in la a decade ago with a fleet of 40 vehicles launched by mobility provider flexcar .
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city car share was fine while it existed , but its descent into carma - - and its horrible afterlife of never returning membership fees to anyone , after promising to do so - - deserves a special place in yelp hell . when i reported city car share to the better business bureau , the bbb told me that there was already a pile of similar complaints against them , and that some higher regulatory authority would eventually have to step in .
chiming in with my own sad tale of woe since ccs merged with carma . i too have had major trouble attempting to cancel , even after jumping through their hoops . they accepted my fob and did nothing . to make a long story short , 83 days later , i have seen no check for my refundable deposit promised me by city carshare - - whom i used frequently and was loyal to for a decade ! run far away . don ' t give carma a dime . they deserve to fail spectacularly .
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in the early days , members also used to leave notes in the cars for the next driver . people would leave cards , haikus , things like that . a few months later i got in a car and found a note from the driver i had passed , about how we recognized each other and waved , and how fun it was . that was a nice experience . it felt like being part of a community . it was one of the reasons i felt so good about city carshare before i ended up working there .
for people living in east oakland who have to own a car , peer - to - peer carshare offers them a way to earn money ( up to hundreds of dollars a month ) by lending their car to neighbors when they’re not driving it . additionally , with peer - to - peer carshare , people will have more options to choose how they get around , increasing their ability to reliably get to jobs , school , and other critical needs . along with bus rapid transit and bikeshare , adding carsharing into the mix makes east oakland a place where people will truly have many affordable and reliable choices of how to get around .
americans love their cars . more than 213 million vehicles clog the nation ' s freeways , city streets and rural byways . but a hi - tech scheme in san francisco aims to persuade drivers to give up their beloved vehicles , writes maggie shiels .
with funding from plan bay area’s initiatives program , transform will bring these new transportation options , including a form of peer - to - peer carshare , to east oakland residents . most importantly , we will conduct dedicated outreach to help educate neighbors and business owners on how they can use , and benefit from , carsharing .
city car share ' s annie bourden then hands out electronic key fobs that beep members into the car when they reserve it . down at one of the pods , as the garages are known , annie shows the new recruits how to use the fob .
dash uses a fleet of electric scion iqs and charging stations . we have 24 of 30 vehicles in place now and are still working on putting in some infrastructure . city carshare currently has more electric vehicles ( evs ) than any other round - trip carsharing operator in the country . i think evs will only become a bigger part of carsharing in the future . right now the infrastructure is expensive , and dealing with it can be time - intensive , but that will change once it gets up to scale . it won’t be a totally smooth transition , but it will happen .
can i rent a car in one city and return it in another ? i am looking for a share - ride from jfk to ohio . would you please let me know what companies can i contact ? something like blablacar in europe ? thanks ! a .
this is the only city in the country - - possibly in the world - - that has three car - share companies operating at the same time ,
said dan shifrin , regional vice president for zipcar .
it speaks volumes about san francisco .
car - sharing networks spread the use of a few vehicles between a number of drivers . carpooling and ride - sharing help to reduce the number of cars on the road . choose sustainable driving habits to help vancouver become the greenest city in the world by 2020 .
“you are seeing a generation of people who have a sense of public consciousness about their carbon footprint , ” said susan smartt , senior vice president of forest city residential west . “it’s good regional planning to offer amenities that will resonate with the lifestyle of these people . ”
we want to make car sharing more hip , more fun and more sexy than owning a car ,
says kate white , co - founder and deputy director of city car share .
this programme is a real , viable and convenient alternative to owning a car .
to address the inequality of current carsharing opportunities in certain communities , transform has teamed up with the city of oakland to create a pilot program to expand carsharing to east oakland . this pilot program has the potential to be replicated in other places and with other modes of shared mobility .
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“toyota is exploring new business models like the city car share dash fleet to meet the future mobility needs of our customers . the scion iq ev fleet will help us understand how electric vehicles are used in an active car sharing program and the viability of this type of program for future technologies . ”
oakland has also jumped on the alternative transportation bandwagon . as of september 2008 , the city requires all developers of projects with more than 50 units and / or 50 , 000 square feet of non - residential space to submit a “transportation demand management” plan , which includes strategies to increase bicycle , pedestrian , transit and car - share use .
“anything that includes the disabled is good but this just seems a bit elitist , ” said dan mcmullan of disabled people outside , who gets around berkeley on a wheelchair . “i would like to see the city use the money to reign in on the services they already have , such as the taxi scrip and discount fares for bart and buses . ”
carshare _ 0004 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , gets inside a nissan versa , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share service at a parking lot at 2nd and howard streets in san francisco , ca , on wednesday , january , 17 , 2007 . photo taken : 1 / 17 / 07 darryl bush / the chronicle * * tara hunt ( cq ) mandatory credit for photog and sf chronicle / - mags out less
i am a bike mechanic and really prefer getting around with pedal power , but occasionally life calls upon us to get jobs that require cars to get to work . because of this , i had to search for a car service . in the bay area , the competition was pretty much between zip car and city car share . i took a social media poll of my 1000 + friends and city car share came out ahead , so i joined up last week . when i checked it out , i found that ccs had pods of cars all around me . . . i had always seen them here and there , but never realized the sum totality of their presence ! they ' ve got cars practically on every other corner of oakland .
“toyota is exploring new business models like the city car share dash fleet to meet the future mobility needs of our customers , “ said craig scott , advanced technology vehicle manager for toyota motor sales usa inc . “the scion iq ev fleet will help us understand how electric vehicles are used in an active car sharing program and the viability of this type of program for future technologies . ”
“toyota is exploring new business models like the city car share dash fleet to meet the future mobility needs of our customers , ” said craig scott , advanced technology vehicle manager for toyota motor sales usa inc . “the scion iq ev fleet will help us understand how electric vehicles are used in an active car sharing program and the viability of this type of program for future technologies . ”
@ adelina , it is certainly possible to rent a car in one city and return it in another , but that is more likely to be found with a major car rental company like hertz or avis rather than a car - sharing company . the rental companies have the ability with their larger organizations to shuffle cars whereas most car - sharing operations are more locally based . – @ ed .
carshare _ 0003 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , holds the zipcar card she uses to unlock the zipcar inside a nissan versa , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share service in san francisco , ca , on wednesday , january , 17 , 2007 . photo taken : 1 / 17 / 07 darryl bush / the chronicle * * tara hunt ( cq ) ran on : 01 - 22 - 2007 tara hunt gets inside a nissan versa from car - share firm zipcar . less
the access mobile program’s administration is supported by bart and funded by the u . s . department of transportation federal transit administration , under the
new freedom
grant . the program is made possible through the support of several organizations including the city of berkeley’s commission on disability , the san francisco mayor’s office on disability , bay area transit ( bart ) , the ed roberts campus and the center for independent living .
one use case i can see for these lilliputian city cars is as courtesy cars at general aviation airports where pilots fly in solo or with co - pilot and just need a way to get “the last mile” to a meeting , hotel room , etc . ( pilots rarely need to go far from the airport . if they did , they would just fly into a closer airport , usually within 10 mi or less ) .
the idea of car sharing within residential buildings got a boost when san francisco passed an ordinance in 2005 requiring new residential buildings with more than 50 units to offer a car sharing either on site or within 800 feet of the building . at the same time , the city set strict limits on parking for new residential complexes in some parts of town , including the market - octavia neighborhood — in some areas only one car is allowed for every four units .
one million u . s . carsharing members will soon become 2 million as people save thousands per year owning one less car . university students , city dwellers , and fleets have new flexibility in getting the right vehicle when needed including roomy sedans , pickup trucks , and even electric cars . just as we are transitioning from owning expensive computers and software to mobile use of cloud services , transportation has moved beyond just owning a car to a rich menu of transportation services .
great concept , terrible customer service . yes , i know they ' re a non - profit . but that ' s no excuse for such a crappy billing system , and a lame way of handling problems . it ' s disturbing enough that an unauthorized person used a car and it was billed to my account . ( and i am the sole authorized user of the account . ) but then getting city car share to correct the error required not only an email , but a phone call and more .
we ' ve been members since our last car died - was it 4 years ago ? - a nd we ' ve thoroughly enjoyed the convenience , not to mention the cost - savings and being green . this idea soooo beats owning a car or any other transportation option in the city , i ' m surprised more people aren ' t members . i ' m glad , though , because i like the fact that there is always a car available when i need / want one . this couldn ' t be easier !
carshare _ 0007 _ db . jpg tara hunt of san francisco , walks away from a zipcar space in a lot on 2nd and howard streets , after returning the nissan versa she drove , one of many zipcars she uses from the car share service in san francisco , ca , on wednesday , january , 17 , 2007 . ( fyi : in the background is an ipod ad ; hunt called zipcar users similar to the first ipod users in the interview ) photo taken : 1 / 17 / 07 darryl bush / the chronicle * * tara hunt ( cq ) ran on : 01 - 22 - 2007 tara hunt gets inside a nissan versa from car - share firm zipcar . less
i agree that i wish i could give them a zero . i was a member of ccs for eight years and loved them , but since the merger with carma , it has been a billing nightmare . every month they come up with a different fine or fee . the latest was a $ 50 fine for not locking the car with a key fob . so an $ 8 rental goes to $ 58 and how do you prove that you locked the car when you know that you did ? you get charged a $ 10 a month fee , even if you didn ' t rent a car that month . ridiculous on so many levels . i ' ll try out the new enterprise carshare program and good riddance .
worried about renting an electric vehicle ? to combat range anxiety ( the fear that your battery will run out of juice before you reach your destination ) , there are plenty of charging stations throughout sf and the east bay including downtown berkeley , ucsf , cole valley , city college of sf , panhandle , china basin , mission , mission bay , and civic center . best of all , members don ' t have to fill up the car with gas at the end of the reservations ; users just return the car to its parking space , plug the vehicle into the charging station , and continue with their day . it ' s that easy .
i was an avid user and supporter of city car share for over 8 years . they do not exist anymore . swallowed by getaround . it sucks ! ! ! i went to zipcar and am very very happy , though i do miss the local homey feeling of ccs and my buddies on the customer service lines hi ian , kerry , tenise etc , we miss you . the only thing i miss with zipcar is its size so you don ' t seem to get to know anybody and are speaking with people far away for where you are , but that is the way the world turns , until it spins off it ' s axis - lol . zipcars are good and their app is the bomb .
“we’re delighted to join our families , as we take this next step towards extending the convenience and flexibility of our combined services to more people throughout the bay area . ”
over the next eight weeks , the new carma will increase the number of operating locations by 25 % , invest in newer technologies to enhance the user experience , and expand improved services to more areas . by consolidating operations , the new company aims to be the most innovative and efficient shared mobility provider available .
about carma carma is a carpooling network that connects commuters with similar routes to share rides through a free smartphone app . carma’s main goal is to make ridesharing easy and flexible . carma has programs in ireland , norway , washington d . c . , san francisco , and austin .
visit carma online urltoken follow carma on facebook , twitter , instagram , google + and linkedin to stay connected .
reach out to the author : contact and available social following information is listed in the top - right of all news releases .
©copyright 1997 - 2015 , vocus prw holdings , llc . vocus , prweb , and publicity wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of vocus , inc . or vocus prw holdings , llc .
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urltoken
it works along fairly simple lines . members pay a $ 300 refundable deposit and a $ 10 monthly fee to join . for $ 2 . 50 an hour and 45c a mile , they can drive a new vw beetle , four - door family car or station wagon based at one of 11 locations around san francisco . insurance and petrol is included in the price .
at an orientation meeting in the company ' s downtown office , 10 new members are shown how to make reservations online .
can everyone see the red light flashing on the side of the door ?
she asks .
just hold your key fob in front of it . the door will spring open when it recognises your fob number .


gestão de carreiras de profissionais desportivos , s.a. , known as gestifute , is a portuguese company providing agent services for footballers .

unlike other football associations , portugal allowed other parties to own part of the economic rights of the players , in order to receive part of the transfer fees .

the company was founded by jorge mendes .

gestifute

gestifute international is one of a series of irish - based special purpose firms established by mendes as part of his gestifute company .
gestifute later ( or before the deal ) became the agent of the player . that season gestifute also represented coentrão in his €30 million deal to city rival
4 comments to fifa registered agents , part 2 . gestifute the route to success
gestifute did not respond to questions . jorge mendes will expect to be busy this summer .
in 2004 some players represented by gestifute were transferred for record prices . the first one was
as the latter was the piece - weigh of internazionale to sign quaresma . quaresma himself joined inter for €18 . 6m plus pelé , was also represented by gestifute . in june 2009 , gestifute signed
gestifute international limited . free business summary taken from official companies house information . free alerts . registered as ie386618
according to the most recent accounts for gestifute , the company paid out a dividend of €12 million during 2015 .
the market never stops turning . and with every turn , mendes and gestifute earn another fee , another commission .
gestifute apparently received 30 percent of the transfer fee for their part ownership of the player ' s economic rights .
4 . according to the regulatory definitions ; # jorgemendes and # gestifute international limited are an intermediary ( hence registered with the fa ) and start sgpa s . a , the portuguese holding company of gestifute , is an organisation . urltoken
founded by mendes in 1996 , gestifute provides agent services for some of the wealthiest and most famous footballers in the world .
it seems from gestifute’s transfer and client history that they are fairly satisfied with the area almost under their control : portugal .
gestifute is a portugese powerhouse that represents some of the very best soccer players in the world . gestifute is headlined by super agent jorge mendes , as well as a roster of bonafide superstars ( including thiago silva , james rodriguez , and christiano ronaldo ) . although gestifute represents almost half of their next closest competitor ( stellar football ) , they have earned twice as much money in cumulative commissions .
according to gestifute’s website , start sgps sa is the holding company used by mendes for all of his sports - related business dealings .
fifa registered agents , part 2 . gestifute the route to success « untold arsenal : supporting the club , the manager and the team
china ' s fosun buy a player who they represent through gestifute . win - win . now both his representatives and economic rights holder .
if he had paid on a yearly basis , gestifute added , then he would have ended up paying less tax than he eventually paid .
gestifute has hit back at these claims and said in a statement in december that the stars it represents are fully compliant with their tax obligations .
andy quinn , a gestifute director , is also the director of another irish company with football interests , multisports & image management ( mim ) .
among its deals , gestifute was involved in previous transfers involving superstar cristiano ronaldo , showing the company is itself a major player in the business .
after subtracting the €12 million dividend paid from the company’s full - year profit , gestifute shareholders’ funds rose by €6 million to €13 . 8 million .
there is no tax evasion scheme … there has never been any hiding nor any intention to hide anything ,
gestifute said in a statement .
ronaldo ' s agency , gestifute , said in a statement tuesday that
it is clear that the player did not try to evade taxes .
the pattern that is emerging , is a network within portugal’s club sides , which stands to reason as gestifute is portuguese and primarily deals with portuguese talent .
both cristiano ronaldo and jose mourinho are fully compliant with their tax obligations with the spanish and british tax authorities ,
gestifute said in a statement .
according to the latest reports , guo has signed a deal with gestifute to set up a sports brokerage for the trading of athletes between sports clubs in china .
for €40 million . gestifute and orel b . v . received a total of €3 . 705 million agent fee ( unknown ratio between the two company ) .
in its statement , gestifute said that
neither cristiano ronaldo nor jose mourinho have ever been involved in legal proceedings regarding the commission of a tax offense
.
gestifute involved in numbers of high profile move in european transfer market , such as cristiano ronaldo . before fifa set up a new law to restrict third parties ownership ( with
significant influence
) , gestifute was actively involved in third parties ownership . however , it in fact conflict of interests , as gestifute was both the owner and the agent of the player . after 2008 , gestifute only received agent fees for the deals the company broke , and not actively in third parties ownership , however a portion of the million transfer deal ( such as 5 % ) was already half of , or even exceed the annual salary of the player .
overall , the most recent accounts for gestifute show that the company made a gross profit of just over €27 million , almost double the €14 million reported the year before .
a spokesman for gestifute dismissed any suggestion of a dispute , however , saying :
the transfer was completed within the regulations and we are not aware of any complaints .
cristiano ronaldo ’s agency gestifute have published a document disclosing the real madrid ' s forward ' s income for last year in an attempt to stave off accusations of tax avoidance .
wolves buy a player than real madrid wanted . . . . jorge mendes everybody . bet he ' s sold to madrid for 4 times the money in the summer . # gestifute
guo guangchang is teaming up with portuguese super broker gestifute , whose main business is engineering the deals that allow european players to move from one soccer club to another . photo : bloomberg
in this case , guo is teaming up with portuguese super broker gestifute , whose main business is engineering the deals that allow european players to move from one soccer club to another .
in a statement , gestifute said : “cristiano ronaldo communicated to the spanish tax agency on 30 march all the information about his assets , as can be shown in the attached documentation .
dinamo moscow has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the portuguese company gestão de carreiras de profissionais desportivos , s . a . ( better known as gestifute ) , and polaris sports limited .
mediapart said the system gestifute employed for its various clients , using a network of offshore accounts and companies , represented a total potential loss to tax authorities of at least 185 million euros .
shanghai foyo , a company majority owned by fosun’s chairman , guo guangchang , bought stakes in mendes’s agency gestifute’s holding company , start . in january 2016 gestifute and shanghai foyo launched a marketing and football agency joint venture in chinese football with a glitzy event in shanghai attended by guo , mendes and senior figures from benfica and monaco , clubs where mendes has been key to transfers .
gestifute international limited was set up on wednesday the 26th of may 2004 . their current address is 18 - 19 college green , dublin 2 , and the company status is normal . the company ' s current directors luis correia and andy quinn have been the director of 32 other irish companies between them ; 15 of which are now closed . gestifute international limited has 2 shareholders .
guo said he chose gestifute because it’s one of the premier names in its field . fosun is usually better known for its investments in areas like insurance , real estate and other financial products .
one of the publications , the french investigative portal mediapart , said ronaldo and his portuguese compatriot mourinho had benefited from a tax optimisation system developed by their agent jorge mendes , who owns gestifute .
for €25 million plus €11 million bonus . two year before , gestifute signed 10 % economic rights from benfica for €1 million , which benfica the remain 20 % earlier in august for €2 million .
ronaldo ' s agency , gestifute , has explicitly denied the charges , going so far as to post a statement on the agency ' s website they claim has been issued by the spanish tax agency confirming that ronaldo is current with his tax obligations . gestifute went on to say on the site that ronaldo
never has been involved in any conflict with the tax authorities of any country .
the football league , too , decided in december that mendes’s role was no cause for concern , despite rules dictating that agents cannot have a controlling influence on clubs . although a subsidiary of fosun owns a slice of gestifute’s holding company , the football league determined there was no conflict of interest . ( mendes and gestifute did not respond to several requests to discuss their plans for wolves for this article . )
bebé ' s move to old trafford earlier this month was negotiated by gestifute , the portuguese management company headed by jorge mendes , the representative of cristiano ronaldo , jose mourinho and united pair anderson and nani .
ederson , manchester city’s new brazilian goalkeeper , is a case in point : he spent time at rio ave before joining benfica . gestifute , silva campos confirmed , had owned 20 percent of his economic rights .
qfil also has links to gestifute international , an irish - based company controlled by football super agent jorge mendes , who represents real madrid star cristiano ronaldo , manchester united manager jose mourinho and valencia winger nani .
meanwhile , leading overseas players are likely to be introduced to china and vice versa . soccer training organizations will be jointly established by foyo and gestifute in the hope of sending promising chinese players to overseas clubs .
the deal has , however , been criticized in russia . the player agent dmitri seluk , for example , who is no stranger to murky transfer investment deals himself , has criticised the deal between dinamo and gestifute .
carlos osório de castro is said to have acted as gestifute’s lawyer for many years ; he responded to an email from the guardian by saying “it’s my firm’s policy not to comment on any issue regarding the work we perform [ or are alleged to have performed ] for our clients . i’d just like to point out that my firm represents a lot of players not connected to gestifute , along with several clubs and football federations and investors . ”
jorge mendes ( centre ) and peter kenyon ( left ) are two figures who have used tpo to their advantage , with their respective agencies , gestifute and doyen , at the centre of most of the third party dealings .
gestifute is owned by jorge paulo mendes agustinho of portugal . he has been voted on two consecutive occasions the best football agent in the world ( how nice ) . he has a business partner , luis carreia also portuguese .
the following is a list of players who have been at the same club as jose mourinho whilst being with gestifute and in brackets ; the transfer fee paid by mourinho , where no brackets appear mourinho did not sign the player .
chinese soccer aficionados will have a better chance to see world - famous soccer players in the near future as foyo culture and entertainment co ltd－a subsidiary of investment conglomerate fosun international ltd－has joined hands with the highly celebrated portuguese footballers agency gestifute .
following the recent accusations , which were published by a group of european newspapers last weekend , gestifute released a photograph of ronaldo’s ‘model 720’ tax return , in a bid to prove their client declared the necessary assests and rights to spanish authorities .
the following summer , after josé mourinho , also a client of mendes ' s , moved to chelsea as the manager , chelsea signed carvalho , for €30m , and ferreira , for €20m . if gestifute ' s 5 % economic rights were still held in each player – gestifute declined to confirm that – mendes ' s agency would have made €2 . 5m , on top of the €2 . 4m in agents ' fees which , the guardian has revealed , chelsea paid at the time .
+ + + + # fassone # milan # mendes + + + giungono conferme che l’incontro di ieri a # madrid non ha riguardato aspetti societari ma possibili agevolazioni per il # mercato rossonero con giocatori legati a # gestifute ( alexrn 10 . 35 )
the deal between gestifute and dinamo moscow was announced on monday april 11 on the club’s official homepage . the director of gestifute , luís correia , told urltoken that the two companies intend to cooperate with dinamo at all levels including marketing : “we have a longstanding relationship with dinamo . from the very first visit to russia , we knew that they want to create a really big club , a high level club . we are impressed by dinamo’s history , and are very excited to be a part of it in the future . ”
gestifute has refuted any suggestions that it acted improperly , but fifa - registered agent gonçalo reis , who arranged bebe ' s free transfer from third division club estrela da amadora to guimaraes in july , insisted he was left on the sidelines when guimaraes sold the player .
manchester united ' s £7 . 4 million summer purchase of portuguese winger bébé resulted in selling club vitória de guimarães receiving just 70 per cent of the fee , with the remaining 30 per cent being allocated to the gestifute sports agency , who part - owned the player .
gestifute , in turn , hopes to benefit from both growing its profile in russia and also increasing its player portfolio : “we are going to cooperate with the club on all levels including with young players from the academia , but also through marketing . ” correia also pointed out that they have similar cooperation agreements with a number of other clubs in europe , but that in russia “dinamo are the first club we have established a link with . ” correia stated that the 2018 world cup has been a prime motivator for gestifute to expand into russia .
paris ( reuters ) - the soccer agency gestifute has denied that clients including portuguese star cristiano ronaldo and manchester united manager jose mourinho are involved in any tax evasion after a media consortium reported that they had used tax havens to handle tens of millions of euros in earnings .
in the list of signings now published annually by the fa , the “intermediaries” involved in that deal are stated to have been carlos osório de castro , a lawyer based in portugal who acted for cavaleiro , and valdir cardoso , a portuguese agent understood to work for gestifute , which represented the club .
speaking to sport - express seluk declared this deal “a complete idiocy ! ” seluk believes that the last time dinamo cooperated with mendes , the club was cheated out of €89 million . furthermore , seluk pointed at valencia cf , and as monaco fc —both clubs have cooperation agreements with gestifute—as examples of where gestifute’s business model has hurt clubs on the field . “you will see neither club will play in the champions league ! dinamo will not perform well with him either ! ! ” asked whether there will once again be an influx of portuguese players at dinamo , seluk responded “definitely ! portuguese , and brazilians . ”
wolves has never hidden the fact that mendes is a “known associate” of fosun , in the words of the managing director laurie dalrymple , though the club has strenuously denied that he is overseeing its transfer policy . wolves’s squad this year , club executives noted , will include a number of new additions not looked after by mendes’s agency , gestifute .
for these agents to claim an area they have to have permanent contacts within a football club or scouting network . below i will show you through the transfer history of gestifute what an agent can achieve when he has a solid network within his chosen area and contact with a foreign network . in brackets total transfer fees exchanged over various moves .
founded in 1996 , gestifute has become one of the most renowned soccer player agencies in europe , involving a number of high - profile players such as cristiano ronaldo , james rodriguez and david de gea . its founder jorge mendes , 50 , has won the agent of the year honor of the globe soccer awards for six consecutive years since 2010 .
telegraph sport understands that gestifute , headed by jorge mendes , the representative of cristiano ronaldo and jose mourinho , received its share of bébé ' s transfer fee following united ' s direct payment to guimarães , who signed the 20 year - old from estrela da amadora following the cancellation of his contract due to non - payment of wages just two months earlier .
in response to a detailed series of questions about mendes ' s earnings on the bébé deal and reis ' s complaint , a spokesman for mendes ' s gestifute agency said :
there is no basis for any action against us in relation to bébé .
she also said :
we never discuss publicly details of the deals brokered by us .
mendes ' contacts in the game are unparalleled ; his ability to find clubs willing to pay big for portuguese talent is also without equal . his most famous clients are cristiano ronaldo and mourinho , but his gestifute stable oversees the careers of hundreds of players and managers , and he has been responsible for the vast majority of the major sales of portugal players over the past two decades .
there was a similar influx at dynamo moscow in 2005 , followed by further financial problems ( though the russian club last year signed a “memorandum of understanding” once again with gestifute ) . at valencia , meanwhile , supporters turned on nuno , the coach . they came to see him as a mendes pawn , and protested against the ownership of peter lim , another close friend of the portuguese agent .
but there is also a network in brazil and an emerging network in argentina . so gestifute must liaise with other agents / agencies from south america to arrange the transfers of players into portugal and within a few years arrange for their high profile transfers in to one of the “big five” leagues consisting of germany , france , italy , spain and england ( with the odd exception of russia ) .
now i’m not suggesting that anything shady is going on with gestifute and mourinho , as many a manager takes players with them wherever they go but i do believe it to be suggestive of a possible conflict of interests . plus i think this suggests that agents / agencies can on occasion have too much influence with regards to transfers and fees especially when the buying manager is also one of their clients .
furthermore , mendes has openly admitted that he , and gestifute , have been involved in third - party ownership deals , and furthermore believes that fifa’s ban on tpo contracts , which came into affect in may 2015 , is illegal . speaking to the news agency reuters on january 30 , 2015 mendes stated that banning the practice is “ illegal , completely illegal , illegal , illegal , both things illegal . ”
it was in 2003 that gestifute first started player trading within the uk , utilising tony henry’s ( formation ) network of contacts . however over time this partnership broke down . the final act of betrayal was when mourinho signed for chelsea and jorge mendes cut the agency formation out of any further deals and dealt directly with chelsea ( abramovich ) . a court case is still on - going in portugal over this partnership breakdown .
in a statement , wolves said : “it is a matter of public record that fosun have a percentage stake in the gestifute company headed up by jorge mendes . jorge is available as an adviser to the owners , in the same way as many other agents and influential figures within football are . wolves have signed players within his portfolio , including last year’s player of the season helder costa , as well as players from other intermediaries .
when another portuguese player , joão teixeira , joined wolves on loan from benfica , the fa’s list of transactions states that he did not have any agent advising him at all , while andy quinn , a director of gestifute international based in ireland , acted for wolves . the portuguese defender silvio , who signed from atlético madrid in july , is not listed in the fa document so the agents on that deal have not been publicly disclosed .
this is just one example of the route an agent / agency or multiple agents use to get their clients in to the biggest paying leagues in the world . small networks either side of the atlantic working together and not the clubs scouting networks as all good managers would have you believe . on the odd occasion that a gestifute client has skipped portugal they have ended up at arsenal ( carlos vela ) & barcelona ( giovani dos santos ) .
at the point of the pyramid , though , are the world’s elite , the clubs to whom mendes sells the very best players at the very highest prices . even here , though , his influence can run deeper than most . when his client mourinho was the manager of real madrid , mendes regularly used mourinho’s office at the club’s training ground as a base from which to conduct gestifute business , including meetings with potential investors into other clubs . clubs like wolverhampton .
both gestifute , and polaris sports limited are owned by the portuguese player agent jorge mendes , who counts some of the most prominent players in the world , cristiano ronaldo ( real madrid ) , james rodrigues ( real madrid ) , ángel di maria ( paris saint - germain ) , diego costa ( chelsea fc ) , and william carvalho ( sporting lisbon ) , as well as the prominent coach josé mourinho ( currently without a club ) , among his clients .
recently , fifa has started investigating the position of quality investment fund , set up by the former chelsea ceo peter kenyon and co - owned by caa sports international and gestifute ( duff and panja , 2011 ) . other third - party ownership projects such as traffic , benfica star fund , sport investment fund and soccer br1 have been set up to directly invest in clubs and academies by controlling their key asset –players’ transfer rights– without being legally responsible for the club with respect to football governing bodies .
despite being a controversial agent himself , seluk might have a point , as gestifute will most certainly view dinamo as a club that can be used to develop players , rather than as a potential title winning machine . furthermore , mendes’ track record of tpo deals , and the fact that clubs can be used to park player contracts , without the player actually playing there , means that dinamo might see very few talented players moving to the club . at the same time dinamo’s poor financial position forces the club into this deal , which could very well turn out to be a deal with the devil .
ronaldo , di maria ( £29m ) , fabio coentrao ( £26 . 4m ) , pepe , ricardo carvalho ( £26 . 4m ) , jose bosingwa ( £0 . 8m & £18m on two occasions ) , paulo ferreira ( £1 . 8m & £17 . 5m on two occasions ) , adriano fabiano rossato ( £1 . 7m ) , henrique hilário ( free ) , tiago cardoso mendes ( £10 . 5m ) , ricardo andrade quaresma bernardo ( £21 . 6m ) . and at the opposite end of the scale mourinho has only ever released one player attached to gestifute filipe oliveira . good business if you can get it .
scolari ' s move to chelsea is just the latest multi - million pound move to be brokered by the portuguese superagent . jason burt reports
when jorge mendes was asked to write a column for the portuguese sports daily , o jogo , during the european championship , the title that was originally suggested , somewhat jokingly , was
my millions
. mendes said no to that , instead agreeing to the column being called
the value of euros
which could , even so , be interpreted two ways . it ' s not just the football competition ; it ' s the currency .
mendes ' name doesn ' t mean much to the average football fan . but it should . still just 42 , he is one of the most powerful men – maybe in terms of deals the most powerful man – in the game . mendes is also an agent , a shrewd businessman and a clever media operator with his own management company , website , which employs full - time journalists , and contacts that spread from his portuguese base throughout the world , particularly in the valuable markets of south america .
pini zahavi has long been regarded as the number one super - agent but , this summer , as with last year , mendes ' name is being mentioned by the biggest clubs in europe as the man with the greater influence . he has just taken jose mourinho to internazionale and luiz felipe scolari to chelsea to make the pair the highest - paid club managers in world football .
that mendes has found time to write a column is astonishing . he has been , and is set to continue to be , the busiest agent in the business and makes many millions indeed . having been allowed by scolari to have access to the portugal team hotel during the european championship , mendes has been a visible presence at the opulent lakeside complex as he looks after his clients and plots their futures .
referred to as a
tranquil oasis
in the hotel blurb , the beau rivage in neuchâtel has been anything but that for mendes . not only has he schemed to get scolari to stamford bridge but he is also at the heart of deciding what will happen to his star client , cristiano ronaldo , who wants to move to real madrid . then there is deco , ricardo carvalho , ricardo quaresma . the list goes on .
not a single player , it seems , leaves portugal , or moves clubs , without mendes being involved and it has already been calculated , probably correctly , that scolari ' s squad is the most valuable in the tournament on the transfer market . and mendes represents the eight biggest names .
after securing scolari ' s three - year contract , worth between £5 . 5m and £6 . 25m , with chelsea , negotiating first with peter kenyon , the club ' s chief executive , and then directly with roman abramovich , mendes , on wednesday , flew to italy to meet with mourinho , who has returned from holiday , to direct inter ' s transfer dealings .
with scolari ' s appointment it appears inter ' s chances of securing carvalho have been thwarted – the defender can , however , expect to receive a new , improved contract even though he has four years left on his present deal – although the italian club will battle with chelsea for deco and quaresma . either way , for mendes , it ' s a win - win situation . he represents both players , both clubs , both managers .
mendes is a straight - forward character who has earned a reputation for honesty – he would rather tell someone straight that he can ' t give them information rather than lie – and loyalty . a former semi - professional footballer , mendes also has , according to his associates , a brilliant eye for talented players and is a terrific scout who is quick to sign up those who catch his eye .
he doesn ' t forget either , and still talks to those journalists and football people who helped him in his early days . mendes also learned a very valuable lesson at the start of his career as he watched the waning of another agent , jose veiga . veiga was the number one agent in portugal which meant he was the number one agent with porto , the club where the most lucrative deals are cut . he took luis figo to real madrid , he was involved in zinedine zidane ' s move also but he fell out with porto after sergio conceicao , a midfielder , was sold to lazio .
veiga had lined up a deal for him to go to deportivo la coruña and , angry , went to war with porto . inevitably he was cut out of the picture which allowed mendes to step forward . he seized his opportunity and realised it was better to work with , rather than against , big clubs and other agents which is why one of his most significant alliances was with zahavi .
the israeli was the biggest , so mendes wanted to work with him . but now the biggest deals appear to go through mendes first . last summer it was pepe to real madrid for £25m , anderson and nani to manchester united for £46m , simao to atletico madrid for £16 . 5m . mind - blowing figures . mendes was quick to assemble a superb roster of players and was a constant presence at the soccer schools and youth teams throughout portugal , spotting and signing up the sporting lisbon pair of ronaldo and quaresma before others could get close . he also forged alliances in south america which netted him anderson , for example .
part of his way of working is to jointly buy players with clubs , such as anderson whose registration was acquired for £6 . 3m with porto eventually paying mendes £3m when the midfielder was sold to united . mendes is also good at looking after his clients . anderson , ronaldo and nani all receive frequent house visits from him while his nephew , luis correia , who works for him as a financial adviser , is friends with all three .
but mendes is also tough . time and again players have moved to him , from other agents , just before they have moved clubs . even mourinho did it . his agent , jorge baidek , a relatively small - time brazilian who he had known since his coaching days at uniao leiria , had lined up a move for him to liverpool . that was until mendes intervened , armed with offers from chelsea and , ironically considering subsequent events , inter . mourinho , having led porto to the champions league final , which they then won , dropped baidek .
every portuguese player who then followed mourinho , including paulo ferreira , tiago mendes and maniche , were mendes ' clients . similarly nani ' s move to united only followed the winger ' s decision to drop his agent , ana almeida , and jose bosingwa ' s £16m transfer to chelsea was facilitated by mendes even though he wasn ' t the right - back ' s agent . he is the gatekeeper . and those gates are golden .
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the agent who claims to have discovered the manchester united forward bebé says he was cut out of the player ' s £7 . 4 million transfer from vitoria de guimaraes – 48 hours before being told he no longer acted for the 20 year - old .
in the spotlight : manchester united ' s recent recruit bebé has hit the big time . . . in no time
reis said :
i am unhappy because of the way things have happened . as an agent , i expected more from the other agent involved .
i know i don ' t have the contacts at the top clubs because i have only been doing this for a year , but when [ jorge ] mendes arrived , i was out of the transaction .
i have not spoken to bebé since he went to united . the only contact has been when i received a renunciation card on aug 13 – two days after he signed for united .
it ' s a sad thing that the one who discovers a player does not stay with him when big clubs are interested . but there are four variables in this business .
the first is the player , then the guy who discovers him and takes a bet on him . then there are big agents like mendes and , finally , the big clubs .
similarly , a united spokesman said :
we signed the player having fully adhered to the correct procedure . this appears to be a dispute between other parties of which manchester united has no part of .
reis has ruled out a formal complaint to fifa after insisting that he had a ' moral duty ' to ensure bebe ' s career is not affected .
he said :
i am not complaining to fifa because contracts with players are very fragile . they can renounce them at any moment .
no - one told me what was happening [ with united ] , but i do not want to create an obstacle for bebé . i made a moral compromise because i wanted the best for bebé .
it ' s very simple . a year ago , he had nothing in football , but then i put him into guimaraes , he plays two or three games in pre - season and then there is big interest from big clubs .
when i discovered bebé , he was a poor boy with nothing in his life . i supported him as a father and he sometimes called me ' father ' . our relationship was stronger than just a player and his manager .
bebé has yet to play for united and was left out of the club ' s reserve squad against manchester city ' s second string on tuesday night .
in terms of the transfer fee , i have no doubts about bebé ' s quality . sooner or later , he will jump out and show people how good he is .
emilio macedo , president of vitoria guimaraes , defended the involvement of mendes in the negotiations with united . he said :
jorge mendes has been the bulwark of this transfer .
with all due respect to other agents , this country owes him a lot because he handles large transfers and brings money into the country because this is like an export .
a spokesperson for manchester united insisted on wednesday that
manchester united made no payments to any agent
in order to conclude the transfer of bébé , who marked his full debut for the club with a goal in the 3 - 2 carling cup victory against wolves on tuesday .
united became the sole owners of bébé ' s registration following his transfer in august , but while dual ownership of players contravenes premier league regulations , the practice is common and within the rules in europe and south america .
bébé ' s move to united has been dogged by controversy , with old trafford manager sir alex ferguson admitting that he had not seen the player play before sanctioning the purchase .
ferguson then hit out at what he described as
vicious
attempts to undermine the player amid accusations that he was not even good enough to play for united ' s reserves .
united could have signed the player for nothing when he became a free agent following the breaking of his contract with amadora .
but bébé ' s move to guimarães was swiftly followed by interest from a host of leading clubs , with an unnamed turkish club prepared to pay €6 million for a 50 per cent share of bébé prior to united ' s move .
manchester united ' s manager sir alex ferguson and his trio of unlikely summer signings , from left , bébé , javier hernández and chris smalling . photograph : tim hales / ap
sir alex ferguson has admitted he broke the habit of a lifetime in signing the unknown portuguese bébé without having seen him play . normally the manchester united manager prefers to watch a prospect in person or at least on video before making up his mind , yet he paid £7 . 4m for the striker formally known as tiago manuel dias correia wholly on the strength of personal recommendations .
why a manager who insists on looking for value in the transfer market was persuaded to pay so much for a player yet to appear at the top level and who moved to vitória guimarães on a free just months ago is one of the mysteries behind the most unexpected summer signing , but ferguson clearly believes he needed to act before other clubs moved in .
sometimes you have to go on instinct and sometimes you have to trust your staff as well ,
the united manager said .
this was a first for me , but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in portugal was adamant we needed to do something , and quickly .
ferguson ' s former deputy , carlos queiroz , now in charge of the national team , tipped off united about the excitement surrounding the player in portugal .
i know real madrid were hovering and so were benfica ,
ferguson said .
it was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly , so i made it quickly . i don ' t think it ' s a risk or a fairy story [ bébé was brought up in an orphanage and spent part of his childhood on the streets ] it ' s just an incentive to all young players who haven ' t necessarily had the best start to their careers .
there are plenty of good young players who don ' t get the breaks , or the right opportunities right at the outset , but get noticed in the end . stuart pearce was one of them . bébé is still young – because he ' s not yet 21 we don ' t have to name him in our squad of 25 – and when you get players at that age you can give them time . with all the experience we have in our first - team squad , we don ' t need to rush them .
it possibly does not feel that way to bébé at the moment . speaking through an interpreter in manchester today he said it had been around a week from first hearing of united ' s interest to sitting at old trafford in a club tracksuit .
it has all happened very quickly but i have an opportunity and now i have to grab it and work very hard ,
he said .
of course i have heard of the premier league before , it was always my dream to play for a club like chelsea or manchester united ,
he said , perhaps sounding a tad arrogant but more likely simply naming the two english clubs with the strongest portuguese connections .
some very big names from portugal have played here , cristiano ronaldo , nani and anderson , and that was definitely a factor . i want to become like them .
for a player whose biggest game to date was a losing encounter with benfica while representing a portuguese third division team , bébé is not short of confidence . then again , if manchester united have just snapped you up unseen , why be shy ?
i ' m fast , i kick well , and i score a lot of goals ,
he replied , when asked what english audiences could expect .
but first of all i am here to work and learn .
ferguson ' s trio of somewhat unlikely summer signings – bébé from portuguese obscurity , javier hernández from mexico and chris smalling from fulham ' s reserves – have prompted speculation about whether united are having to look at the economy end of the market because the club ' s american owners have placed limits on spending . the manager has already pointed out that few other clubs would spend more than £20m on relatively untried youngsters and he says he has no wish to join in the
kamikaze spending
triggered by the new generation of enormously wealthy clubs owners .
people are spending amazing amounts of money and i don ' t see any sign of it abating just yet ,
he said .
if anything , it ' s getting worse . i am not saying we will never pay big money for an experienced player again , from time to time we might need to . this is a young players ' club at the moment and it has always been one of our policies to identify good players early and let them grow into the club , but even if you strip all the young players out of the equation , we still have an incredible amount of experience in our first - team squad .
that ' s my back - up , i have all that experience to rely on . there were a couple of higher profile players we looked at this summer but if you buy someone like that you have to put him in the team , and i wasn ' t sure there was anyone who would actually make the team that much better . i asked myself would they do what eric cantona did for us , or wayne rooney or cristiano ronaldo , and in the end i didn ' t think they would .
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last season bébé played four pre - season friendlies for vitória before his move to manchester united . photograph : neal simpson / empics sport
for €9m , the most improbable signing in the career of sir alex ferguson , who admitted he had never seen the player kick a ball .
a 20 - year - old who spent his youth in care near lisbon after being abandoned by his parents , bébé had played only one season , 26 matches , for estrela da amadora in the portuguese third division , before reis negotiated a move for him to a first division club , vitória guimarães . last summer bébé played four pre - season friendlies for vitória , and sacked reis as his agent on 5 august by letter , which reis says he received on 9 august ; then bébé was the subject of a deal with united that works out as £7 . 5m on 11 august .
united confirmed subsequently that jorge mendes , agent to josé mourinho , who has become a huge influence in portuguese football and previously negotiated the moves by cristiano ronaldo , nani and anderson to old trafford , acted for bébé . vitória ' s directors stated at their annual meeting late last year that mendes , after seemingly less than a week ' s work , had been paid €3 . 6m of the €9m fee . reis had a two - year contract to act as bébé ' s agent from august 2009 to august this year .
now reis says he is
seriously considering
making a formal complaint to fifa about the manner in which he lost his client to mendes .
i spotted bébé playing ,
he recalls ,
i could see he had talent but , because of the person he is and his very poor and difficult background , i had to look after him very closely as a person , as well as be his agent . i negotiated his move first to estrela , then to vitória , then last summer he went missing on me . i read that he had agreed an improved contract with a €9m buyout clause at vitória , then i suddenly received this letter in which he purported to say our relationship was at an end . two days later he went to manchester united for €9m . i am now very seriously considering making a complaint to fifa .
reis did believe bébé had potential ; he signed a two - year agreement to represent him as his agent , to run from 19 august 2009 . reis says he negotiated bébé ' s first move to the partly professional , financially struggling estrela , based in lisbon ' s north - western outskirts , when bébé was 19 . the club ' s financial difficulties meant they did not pay bébé , so he became a free agent . reis tried to pitch the player ' s potential to bigger clubs in portugal and around europe , including psv eindhoven , who he says were not interested . vitória , based in guimarães in the north of the country , agreed to take a gamble on him .
reis says he was negotiating the details of bébé ' s proposed contract with vitória from may last year . bébé attacked his chance there , playing formidably in the pre - season friendlies . reis claims bébé suddenly went missing ; he did not turn up to a scheduled meeting in lisbon and reis could not get him on his phone . from then , according to reis , he had no contact with the player he had regarded as his protégé and potentially valuable client . he read in the newspapers that bébé had signed a contract with vitória , then , after notable performances , an improved one with the €9m buyout clause .
bébé , a young man of poverty and patchy education , sent reis a letter , dated 5 august last year , which said the contract they had was balanced in reis ' s favour and that he was unhappy with complaints reis had made to the portuguese media about having been kept out of bébé ' s negotiations with vitória . bébé said he had negotiated that contract himself . for all these reasons , the letter , signed by bébé , said he was treating his contract with reis to be his agent as at an end .
fifa ' s rules on the conduct of agents , which sepp blatter ' s world governing body still currently oversees although it is about to abandon licensing of agents altogether , state that an agent cannot induce a player to breach his contract with another agent . when mendes became involved is not clear , nor how he came to represent bébé , a relationship united confirmed in the only interview bébé has given so far , exclusively to the club ' s official website in november . in it , bébé said he had been playing well for guimarães in pre - season friendlies and :
suddenly jorge mendes told me about the deal . i was very happy at the time , i didn ' t expect it . it was like a dream to me .
reis says he restrained himself from complaining at the time because he did not want to disrupt bébé ' s settling in period at united .
what happened was wrong ,
reis says .
if he had come to me , and said he is the major agent with the experience of deals at the biggest clubs and we should come to an arrangement , i would have talked to him . instead i receive this letter signed by bébé two days before he moves to manchester united , with mendes as his agent . that is not right .
shortly after bébé joined united , ferguson lambasted as
vicious
reports that bébé was too raw a footballer amid the polished skills exhibited by the senior players at old trafford . bébé has made two appearances as a substitute in premier league matches , played three times in the carling cup and once as a substitute in the champions league , at bursaspor where he scored in a 3 - 0 victory . he has also played for portugal under - 21s , many of whose players mendes has represented in recent years , along with the majority of the senior national side .
at the time bébé went to united , emilio macedo , the president of vitória , hailed the work mendes had done .
jorge mendes has been the bulwark of this transfer ,
he said .
with all due respect to other agents , this country owes him a lot because he handles large transfers and brings money into the country . this is like an export .