By Stephanie Bathurst

With five departments on campus already registered to use the environmentally friendly Zipcar program, some staff members and offices have realized the potential for replacing underutilized University-owned vehicles with Zipcars.

“The University doesn’t have a common motor pool so to speak,” said Mark Kaligian, fleet manager for Parking and Transportation Services. “So if someone has to perform some kind of job function, they don’t have a ready vehicle. And if the department does own vehicle[s], then they just sit there until they are used.”

A student checks out the “McConaughey,” the nickname given to the burnt orange Mini Cooper that is one of Zipcar’s eight car-sharing vehicles on campus. Zipcar launched at the University in January and is available to all faculty, staff and students for daily and hourly rates. Photo by Stephanie Bathurst / Texas Student Media

UT has a fleet of more than 600 University-owned vehicles. Kaligian said most are underused, and some departments only use their vehicles a few times a month.

“Zipcar provides the incentive that says if you need a vehicle just once or twice a month, there is no sense in going through the capital expense of owning,” he said. “We hope it will ease some congestion and some of the UT fleet, and that it will be a capital gain in the long run.”

The Environmental Health and Safety Department on campus has signed up for Zipcar to use the vehicles the company currently has on campus, and the department plans to eventually replace or integrate its fleet of vehicles with Zipcars.

“We are, as a department, joining the Zipcar program. This will help to reduce our vehicle inventory [on campus],” said Jason Shoumaker, who until Feb. 16 served as safety specialist for environmental operations on campus. Shoumaker is now the building services supervisor at the College of Communication.

Blanca Juarez, alternative transportation manager for PTS, said her office has been processing at least five to 10 new accounts each day since the Zipcar program started. So far, Juarez said 199 students have signed up in addition to 54 faculty and staff members.

“The cars are being used on a daily, almost hourly, rate. I only expect to see more groups sign up once they realize the value of this program,” she said.

Zipcar’s fleet includes a range of vehicle models that can accommodate the needs of all types of people and various UT departments. There is the popular and hard-to-miss burnt orange Mini Cooper, one Ford Escape, one Toyota Tacoma truck, three Scion XBs and two Toyota Prii. (Last week Toyota announced that, following the results of an online poll, Prii is the plural of Prius.)

Shoumaker has been driving the “McConaughey,” the nickname given to the Mini Cooper, about twice a week since January. As of early February, the car had already logged 552 miles.

“It’s pretty convenient and affordable,” he said. “I think that so far people are just thinking of it as an individual thing, but once they realize that a group can share the cost of a Zipcar to go grab something to eat off campus, it will go viral.”

Shoumaker, who joined the program for both work and personal use, adds that he would like to see other departments buying into the car-sharing program in the future, reducing UT’s fleet and overall campus congestion.

“It makes it real easy to get around campus and find parking,” he said. “The biggest complaint among faculty and staff is that you can’t leave campus, because when you come back you won’t have a parking space. The best part about these cars is that you can actually get back to campus and park.”

The campus community expressed the need for a car-sharing program a few years ago, Juarez said. She said PTS worked with Student Government and the Graduate Student Assembly, as well as University departments, to develop the relationship with Zipcar.

“We see it as an opportunity to advance greener technologies and encourage people to use alternative transportation and still have the convenience of a vehicle available on campus at an economical cost,” said PTS Director Bobby J. Stone. “I think that makes it a win-win situation.”

According to Zipcar’s website, for each shared car used, about 15-20 personal vehicles are taken off the road. Additionally, Juarez said all of the cars in UT’s fleet were purchased in or around the Austin area. Zipcar’s use of local vendors “is one of the reasons why we were so excited about this program versus some of the others,” Kaligian said.

Zipcar was founded 11 years ago when two entrepreneurs decided to model an American car-sharing program after similar programs in Europe. Today the company has placed more than 8,000 vehicles in cities throughout dozens of states, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom. Zipcar also has operations on nearly 230 college campuses, including Baylor and Rice universities.

As students and University departments become more familiar with the vehicles and the program’s potential on campus, UT may just ignite a new generation of Zipsters — Zipcar’s trendy name for its users. To sign up and for more information, visit zipcar.com/austin.

HOW ZIPCAR WORKS

Memberships are available for individual or departmental use. Once you or your department becomes a member, registered users can reserve the Zipcars online, over the phone or via iPhone app, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

All Zipsters must meet these qualifications:
• be at least 18 years old
• have a valid driver’s license and a clean driving record, with no major violations or incidents

The program costs:
• $35 per year, with no application fee
• Daily rates start at $66 per day on weekdays and $72 per day on weekends
• Hourly rates start at $8 per hour on weekdays and $9 per hour on weekends

All reservations include:
• gas
• insurance
• maintenance and roadside assistance
• up to 180 miles of use per day

For more specific information about personal and departmental memberships, visit utexas.edu/parking/transportation/carshare/.