Syracuse University begins Zipcar program on campus

Syracuse University begins Zipcar program on campusOctober 28, 2008Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

Syracuse University and Zipcar, the world’s largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day, today announced a joint partnership to provide Zipcars on campus to University faculty, staff and students as an environmentally friendly alternative to keeping a car on campus. The partnership continues SU’s commitment to invest in sustainable solutions on campus and marks Zipcar’s entry into Syracuse, bringing its operations to more than 50 cities, including London and 28 North American states and provinces.

Two self-service Zipcars-a Honda Civic and a Toyota Matrix-are available on campus for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cars will be located in the Quad 3/Arch lot and are available to all SU and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry employees and students ages 18 and older, with gas, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking included in low hourly and daily rates.

Zipcar was selected as SU’s car sharing partner based on its superior technology and operations, membership experience, and track record of providing peer universities with a proven, cost effective and environmentally friendly transportation solution.

For students who cannot or do not want to bring a privately owned car to school, Zipcar provides the freedom to travel off campus to attend interviews, run errands or take a weekend trip with classmates. Zipcar also eliminates hundreds of dollars in monthly transportation costs, saving members an average of $600 per month or $7,200 per year when compared with car ownership-money that can be put toward other, more relevant, education-related expenses.

Students, faculty and staff will be able to join Zipcar for $35 and will gain access to SU’s Zipcars for $9 per hour or $65 per day.

The addition of Zipcars on campus is the latest in a series of transportation initiatives launched at SU that are based in the concepts of sustainability and designed to help relieve the personal burden felt by many due to fuel and commuting costs, while also reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released through daily campus travel. Other initiatives and programs include:

• the One-Seat Rides Program, which encourages University employees to park their cars and ride a Centro bus directly to campus;
• the Centro Fare Deal program/Guaranteed Ride Home Service, which allows SU employees to purchase pre-tax bus passes and offers a Guaranteed Ride Home Service, which provides a ride to one location from any SU location in the event of an emergency, working late or in the event that all the regularly scheduled buses have stopped running;
• the new carpool parking program, which is an option for University permit parking that provides parking for two or more University employees who commute to work together; and
• the SU Ride Share program, which allows University community members to register with Parking and Transit Services and match themselves with people from the same area, sharing the driving responsibilities. Among the dozens of colleges that have partnered with Zipcar to reduce traffic, noise and parking demands are American University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The University of Chicago, the University of Minnesota, the University of North Carolina and the University of Toronto.

Zipcar is the world’s leading car-sharing service with 225,000 members and 5,500 vehicles in urban areas and college campuses throughout 28 North American states and provinces as well as in London, England. As a leader in urban transportation, Zipcar offers more than 30 makes and models of self-service vehicles by the hour or day to savvy city residents and businesses looking for an alternative to the high costs and hassles of owning a car in the city. For more information, visit Zipcar.com.

Those interested in learning more about Zipcar at SU can visit http://zipcar.com/su for more information about membership and hourly rates.