Sharing cars at Chico State

CHICO
August 25, 2009 12:02pm

Students, staff and faculty at California State University, Chico, can rent a nearly new car by the hour under a program announced Tuesday.

Chico State is joining the national Zipcar car-sharing program. It is also open to community members, although the Zipcar reserved parking spots are on campus,

The program will help reduce demand for parking and support the university’s commitment to sustainability while offering campus and community members a “convenient, economical and environmentally friendly alternative to owning a car,” the university says.

Five self-service “Zipcars” – three Honda Insights and two Scion XBs – will be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Zipcars are available to all faculty, staff and students and community members 18 years of age and over who are licensed drivers with good driving records. Gas, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking are included in hourly and daily rates.

Faculty, staff and students will be able to join Zipcar for $35 and can drive for as little as $8 per hour or $66 per day weekdays and $9 per hour or $72 per day on weekends. Students also get $35 in free driving credit as part of a launch promotion.

Local residents ages 21 and older can join for $75 ($25 one-time application fee and $50 annual fee). All members 21 and over will have access to Zipcar's network of more than 6,500 vehicles throughout the UK and North America.

“Like buying music by the song, students can immediately see the benefit of paying for a car by the hour,” says Matt Malloy, vice president of global university operations at Zipcar. “They also love saving hundreds of dollars per month on car payments. Best of all, Zipcar provides insurance to students as young as 18.”

Zipcar says it has 325,000 members sharing 6,500 vehicles in urban areas and college campuses throughout 26 North American states and provinces as well as in London.

CSU, Chico is the first CSU campus to partner with Zipcar and the only location for Zipcar vehicles between San Francisco and Portland. The company says it has programs on more than 120 campuses across the country.