Car-sharing program Zipcars roll into IU

When public transportation just won’t cut it, students can now zip.

Zipcars made their debut on campus Tuesday.

The program allows students, faculty, staff and community members to sign up to rent cars by the hour. Currently, there are four cars, two available across the street from Ernie Pyle Hall and two available across the street from Foster Quad.

Two of the cars are Honda Insights – hybrid cars – and two are Honda Civics. All are new.

Kent McDaniel, executive director for transportation services, said a car sharing program is one the University has been considering for several years. The IU Student Association came on board with the program this summer.

McDaniel said studies showed that the more shared cars there were, the fewer other cars would show up on campus.

“Our goal was to bring these on campus, try to encourage people to feel like they can send their students to Indiana University,” McDaniel said. “And they don’t have to send them with an automobile.”

McDaniel said an average car costs $700 a month to operate while a Zipcar costs an average user $100 a month.

Its price is all inclusive and the users are expected to fill the car up with gas before returning it. Gas is free.

“That includes gas, insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance,” said Rich Paisner, a senior account manager with Zipcar. “It’s really everything you don’t want when you run a car we take care of.”

The cars can be used for 180 miles in one rental. After that an additional fee is charged.

Paisner said the Zipcar program is available in 150 locations around the world. Cities such as Altanta, Boston, San Franisco, Chicago and London have programs.

Universities are coming aboard, too. The University of Michigan, Yale University, the University of Illinois and about 100 more Universities use the program, according to the Zipcar Web site. 

Through the contract IU does not have to pay anything for Zipcars on campus. No one could say how many students are expected to use the cars or how many would need to use the service to keep the cars on campus.

However, the University expects four more cars on campus by next semester.
But, in a University topping 40,000 students, eight cars might not be enough, McDaniels said.

“I think it’ll take a while for people to get used to it,” he said.

IUSA also signed a $7500 contract with Zimride, an online carpool site Monday. Zimride is part of Zipcar and allows students to post and find rides in a more technological way than a carpooling board.