With the use of Zimride’s Zipcar, students can rent a car for $7 an hour or $66 a day, a fee that covers gas, insurance and parking, and the service is now fully operational nearly a year after the ASUO contracted with the service.
The idea is to make transportation less stressful and more environmentally sound.
Two cars are parked right next to Esslinger Hall on University Street, and the other two are parked in Lot 34E. The two models offered are a Toyota Prius and a Honda Insight.
A student can request a Zipcar online and receive a card in the mail, and then rent one of the four cars whenever they are available. Every student is already entered into the system at zimride.com.@@wait a minute…i didn’t agree to volunteer my information to this@@ The username and password are the same ones used to access University email and Blackboard.
People can also make a post requesting a ride or offering one. Everything is done through the website, and it can only be accessed by other University students.
“It’s a great way to get to learn about a different part of the University,” ASUO Sen. Emma Newman@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Emma+Newman@@ said. “Riding with someone new is a great way to connect with people.”
This program was paid from the Over-Realized Fund and is aimed at creating a more environmentally friendly campus.
“If people are sharing cars, there will be fewer, more fuel-efficient cars being used less,” said Michael Serafino, general manager for Zipcar University.@@http://www.govtech.com/technology/Chicago-Vehicle-Sharing-Program.html@@
Both the ASUO and Zipcar hope that the rentals will cut down on the number of cars on campus, and therefore help with the lack of parking. They also hope Zipcars will remove the stress some students feel about owning a car.
“Owning a car is really expensive and it would be really inconvenient to pay for gas and insurance when it is so much easier to rent one, especially since I don’t need to drive that often,” University junior Kirsten Gotting said.