IU zips ahead into greener transportation future

Forget begging your roommate to borrow the car for groceries. Say goodbye to your justifications for why the laundry bin is overflowing with dirty clothes. And most importantly, cut the excuses for why you can’t make it to your dentist appointment.

Zipcar is the world’s largest car-sharing service – and they are coming to IU today. The company offers a viable solution for students, faculty and staff who do not own their own cars and still want to get around town.

For a yearly fee of $35, eligible persons can rent cars for as little as $8 per hour on weekdays and $9 per hour on weekends. The best part? The service is available to everyone affiliated with IU over the age of 18 and, for an additional fee, community members as well.

Finally, IU got something right. Our school now joins the ranks of Williams, Amherst, Vanderbilt, Yale, Harvard, USC and UCLA as a school that understands the demand of its students. As Zipcar puts it, the service is akin to buying a song as opposed to the entire album.

The need is immediate but short term, and it should thus be an alternative that’s easy, cheap and accessible. It will also alleviate congestion and help the environment by reducing the total number of cars on campus.

That’s exactly what Zipcar provides. As of today, four hybrid, fuel-efficient Zipcars will be available in reserved spaces across from Ernie Pyle Hall and at the corner of Fee Lane and 13th Street. They will be ready for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and four more cars will be added next fall.

But before all the car-less folk on campus jump into these brand new Zipcars to run their (completely legal) errands, there are a few things the company and the University should consider.

For one, four cars on a campus that is catering to over 50,000 people may run into some demand problems.

But once more cars are added, then parking becomes an issue. Anyone who already owns a car here understands how painful the situation in Bloomington really is.

Keeping spots reserved on campus parking lots for Zipcars robs them from students who have already paid for a parking permit through the school.

While this won’t be a problem for the time being, it also suggests that the very success of this program could cause some trouble.

Regardless of the implicit limitations and problems the Zipcar service might bring, the introduction of this service is good news for the faculty, staff and students of IU.