Thursday, August 19, 2010
Education / Transportation Zipped Up
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Car-sharing is going to college.
Rhodes College just announced car-sharing service Zipcar will be on campus this fall.
For $35 a year, members can rent a Zipcar by the hour or the day, with $35 in free driving their first month of membership. Reservations are made on the internet or by cellphone, and in-car technology unlocks the car doors and reports the car's location.
"We looked at it a few years ago when it was a fledgling operation, but at that time, users had to be 21 years old," said Tracy Adkisson, the associate director of physical plant. "It wasn't ideal then. Now they've changed the program to accommodate college and universities so that people 18 to 21 can join."
The school hopes the service might help, in part, with parking issues on campus.
"It is an excellent way to conserve parking spaces and provides an alternative to those not requiring daily transportation," John Blaisdell, Rhodes' associate dean of students, said in a statement. "I believe the ease of use should make the program a success."
Adkisson also cites sustainability and student service as reasons to have Zipcar on campus.
"One of the main reasons is to give students who don't bring a car to campus a viable alternative and to give students an alternative to bringing a car to campus," she said.
Rhodes is the third location in Tennessee for Zipcars. The others are Belmont and Vanderbilt universities in Nashville.
The school's two Zipcars — one a hybrid — are scheduled to arrive Tuesday and will soon be available for pickup in the Briggs Student Center parking lot. For more info, click here.
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
I was a student there just a few years ago and constantly complained, along with just about everyone else, how absolutely ridiculous that tuition should be so high yet enough parking for students could not be provided (they sure were able to make plenty of room for the monstrosity of a library, and lots of new flowers beds were added constantly. Yippee). Myself and many of my classmates received parking tickets pretty frequently - when you pay THAT much money per class, it is insane to think of missing a class to drive around for 30 minutes looking for an open spot - and each time we all tried to appeal based on this fact we were completely ignored
Having a ride share is a good idea, but it does nothing to change the original problem that there are not enough spaces to serve the Rhodes community.
But nice PR move...
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A cease and desist order has been sent. Zip, Zippy, The Zipster, Zippalingadingdong are all protected trademarks of 38103, and it's associated affiliates.
All related matters pertaining too said trademark shall contain the word "tribute" from here on out. Thank you. Zippy.
BCB, the same issue at U of M when I was a student there many years ago. I think they do it on purpose, because if you provide enough parking, parking ticket revenues disappear. I used to go to school two hours early just so I could get a parking space, and if, for some reason I was running late, I'd just not go at all, because what was the point of driving all the way to the campus only to drive around the entire class period looking for somewhere to park?
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