08-27-2008, 06:22 AM
$60 a day is pretty expensive, but most car rental places won't rent to anyone under 25.
Car sharing. Two words that still sound a little foreign when used together in Texas.
Yet on Tuesday, a Massachusetts firm called Zipcar made its debut in the state with a car-sharing service at Rice University.
The service is similar to a traditional car rental business but is underpinned by a broader mission: to get Americans to change the way they think about owning and driving cars.
"We envision a world where there are more car sharers than car owners," Zipcar spokeswoman Kristina Kennedy said as she stood in front of a sign-up table on the Rice campus.
The service works like this: Rice students pay $35 for a yearlong membership, which allows them to reserve a car at $7 an hour or $60 a day.
At the reserved time, a swipe of a membership card across a sensor on the windshield unlocks the door. Keys are inside. Insurance is paid for, and members can buy gasoline at no cost using a charge card inside the car. But drivers pay a penalty if they return the car with less than a quarter tank.
Formed in Cambridge, Mass., eight years ago, Zipcar has had success with the service in metro areas including Chicago, Washington, Boston and San Francisco.
After dropping its minimum renting age from 21 to 18 last year, Zipcar is moving aggressively to contract with college campuses.
With gasoline prices still well over $3 a gallon, it has been a good time to make the pitch.
Last month, Zipcar signed up 11,000 members, triple what it did the previous July, Kennedy said.
It has 225,000 members in 50 cities in North America and in London, and it operates more than 5,500 cars.
Fuel prices help business
Gasoline prices are driving the business, Kennedy said, and have "really acted as this motivator for people to re-evaluate the cost of owning a car."
There are also environmental benefits. Shared vehicles take other cars off the road, and Zipcar members tend to drive less, Kennedy said.
Eugen Radulescu, director of administrative services at Rice, said he hopes the Zipcar program will encourage some students to leave cars at home, reducing their monthly costs for gasoline, parking and other car-related expenses.
That is why the university is subsidizing a portion of the membership fee, which typically would be $50 a year, he said.
More broadly, he hopes the program will send a signal that "we are extremely mindful of the impact our students' transportation choices have on the environment."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5967946.html
Car sharing. Two words that still sound a little foreign when used together in Texas.
Yet on Tuesday, a Massachusetts firm called Zipcar made its debut in the state with a car-sharing service at Rice University.
The service is similar to a traditional car rental business but is underpinned by a broader mission: to get Americans to change the way they think about owning and driving cars.
"We envision a world where there are more car sharers than car owners," Zipcar spokeswoman Kristina Kennedy said as she stood in front of a sign-up table on the Rice campus.
The service works like this: Rice students pay $35 for a yearlong membership, which allows them to reserve a car at $7 an hour or $60 a day.
At the reserved time, a swipe of a membership card across a sensor on the windshield unlocks the door. Keys are inside. Insurance is paid for, and members can buy gasoline at no cost using a charge card inside the car. But drivers pay a penalty if they return the car with less than a quarter tank.
Formed in Cambridge, Mass., eight years ago, Zipcar has had success with the service in metro areas including Chicago, Washington, Boston and San Francisco.
After dropping its minimum renting age from 21 to 18 last year, Zipcar is moving aggressively to contract with college campuses.
With gasoline prices still well over $3 a gallon, it has been a good time to make the pitch.
Last month, Zipcar signed up 11,000 members, triple what it did the previous July, Kennedy said.
It has 225,000 members in 50 cities in North America and in London, and it operates more than 5,500 cars.
Fuel prices help business
Gasoline prices are driving the business, Kennedy said, and have "really acted as this motivator for people to re-evaluate the cost of owning a car."
There are also environmental benefits. Shared vehicles take other cars off the road, and Zipcar members tend to drive less, Kennedy said.
Eugen Radulescu, director of administrative services at Rice, said he hopes the Zipcar program will encourage some students to leave cars at home, reducing their monthly costs for gasoline, parking and other car-related expenses.
That is why the university is subsidizing a portion of the membership fee, which typically would be $50 a year, he said.
More broadly, he hopes the program will send a signal that "we are extremely mindful of the impact our students' transportation choices have on the environment."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5967946.html
