Syracuse University expands Zipcar car-sharing program on campus

Monday, October 19, 2009, By News Staff

Building on the success of the Zipcar program at Syracuse University and the sustainable transportation options for students, faculty and staff, the University has introduced three additional vehicles to the fleet—for a total of five—to help extend the accessibility and convenience of using Zipcar.

The five Zipcars are conveniently located on campus in the following locations:

  • Blue Honda Civic and Gray Toyota Matrix: located in the Q3/Arch lot near Carnegie Library and Archbold Gym.
  • Red Honda Civic: located in the Waverly lot on the corner of Waverly Street and South Crouse Avenue.
  • Gray Honda Insight (hybrid vehicle): located at 180 Small Road on South Campus.
  • Silver Honda Insight (hybrid vehicle): located at 200 Slocum Heights Drive on South Campus.

SU introduced Zipcar—the world’s largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day—in December 2007. Since then, students, faculty and staff from SU and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry have had the opportunity to take advantage of the car-sharing program by self -reserving online one of the two available Zipcars—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Parking and Transit Services is very pleased with the success of the Zipcar program on campus,” says Allan Breese, director of business and facilities maintenance services at SU. “With the availability of three additional vehicles— two of them being hybrids—more students, faculty and staff will be able to utilize this very creative transportation option.”

Students, faculty and staff can join Zipcar for $35 a year and will gain access to SU’s Zipcars for $9 per hour, or $65 per day, with gas, insurance and 180 free miles, parking in the reserved spot and 24/7 roadside assistance included. Full details are available at SU’s Zipcar site: http://zipcar.com/su.

For students who cannot or do not want to bring a privately owned car to campus, Zipcar provides the freedom to travel off campus to attend interviews, run errands or take a weekend trip.

And faculty and staff also can take advantage of the benefits of the Zipcar program, which include savings on monthly fuel, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking costs.

The expansion of the Zipcar program on campus builds on the series of sustainable transportation options available at SU designed to help relieve the burden of fuel and commuting costs, while also reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released through daily campus travel, in support of the University’s Climate Action Plan. 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 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.

More information on all of these sustainable transportation programs is available at the Parking and Transit Services website.

About Zipcar

Zipcar is the world’s leading car-sharing service, with 325,000 members and 6,500 vehicles in urban areas and college campuses throughout 28 North American states and provinces, as well as in London. 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 www.Zipcar.com.