IU considering hourly rental vehicle program

Hourly rental vehicles could be available to students this fall if IU Transportation decides it’s a worthy investment.

Vendors would supply cars at several locations around campus and the Bloomington area, giving Bloomington and IU residents an opportunity to rent an environmentally
safe vehicle with convenient pickup and drop-off locations.

If the program is implemented, IU officials said they would like to model the program after the University of Illinois’ program, in which the university teamed with the city government to sign a deal with an hourly rental car vendor.

IU officials said the University of Illinois’ program has had success in offering rentals lasting from an hour to four days. Students pay $8 per hour and area residents pay $10 per hour.

Kent McDaniel, Bloomington Transit board director, said officials are looking into the program and gathering information before making a decision.

“We haven’t decided,” McDaniel said. “We are gathering information required for a proposal we will distribute to vendors, and in turn vendors will send us a return proposal that we will evaluate for how the program should be implemented.”

McDaniel said if IU decides to proceed, the program would be implemented by mid fall at the latest, but ideally at the beginning of the fall semester.

McDaniel said IU has looked into similar programs before, but was skeptical before giving the program serious consideration.

“We watched and observed awhile to see if the program would succeed in Bloomington,” he said. “We waited for the vendors to get their technologies together and improve their business. We also saw the program succeed so we decided to look into it more.”

Edwardo Rhodes, School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor, said the program could potentially have a modest impact on environmental health in Bloomington.

“It’s a good idea, and a good impact in many cases,” Rhodes said. “I’m not sure it will have a dramatic impact, but it will definitely have some positive gains, which is much better than any net losses.”