Zipcars help vehicle-less students at Baylor University
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Zipcar is the world’s largest car-sharing program, and Baylor University is among the latest to join the network.
Sustainability Coordinator Smith Getterman Baylor explained it's not your typical car rental.
"You don't have to be the normal age of 25, which is a big deal for college students,” he said. “You can rent it hourly as opposed to the whole day."
The fee is $8 per hour or $66 a day. Gas, insurance and 180 miles per day are included. The service works as a membership for $35 a year. However the program offers that amount in free driving the first month. Click here to learn more about how the program works.
"We have a total of about 35 to 40 users, and we're approving on average one person a day,” he said.
Their biggest customers are those from out of the country.
"International students. They come, obviously they don't have vehicles. A lot of grad students here don't have vehicles," Getterman said.
Faculty and staff members are allowed to reserve a car as well.
The cars can be reserved online or you can use your phone. There's an iPhone app for Zipcars that allows students to reserve the car and even use it to unlock the car.
Baylor Student Kermit Tilford said she likes the idea.
"I'm from Denver, and I don't have a car here,” she said. “The Zipcar would be really nice, especially since it's always here."
A Civic and a Prius make up the fleet for now, but Getterman wouldn't be surprised if more vehicles become available for the school in the future.
"There is a demand for it, and our students are excited about the program," Getterman said.
Getterman said Rice University is the only other school in Texas that he knows of which has the Zipcar program.