Carless no more

By Jocelyn Wright     8/21/08 7:00pm

Students looking to pay less for their daily commute to campus will have access to two alternatives this year: Zipcar and NuRide. Zipcar, which is targeted at students, is a car rental service. NuRide, intended primarily for faculty and staff, is a carpooling service. Both programs are available through the transportation office.Zipcar will allow students to rent a car at the rate of $7 per hour with an annual subscription fee of $35. The hourly rental fee includes insurance, gas and other expenses related to car maintenance such as car washes, Assistant Transportation Manager Elizabeth Gbordzoe said. Students can sign up for the Zipcar program at the launching event Aug. 26 in the Housing and Dining parking lot in front of Baker College. Students will also be able to see the two cars available for rental, a Toyota Prius and a Volvo S40, Director for Administrative Services Eugen Radulescu said.

Although the Transportation Office has been interested in the Zipcar program for several years, it ran into a roadblock with the student age requirements for rentals. Previously, the program required that drivers be 21 or older to qualify for insurance on the rental cars. Radulescu said the Transportation Office was able to sign up for the program this year because the insurance requirement for drivers dropped to 18 and over.

For those who already have cars and are looking to split gas money with others, NuRide is a free online nationwide carpooling service that helps its members coordinate carpools with people in their neighborhoods. Gbordzoe said NuRide also tracks the amount its members carpool and offers rewards such as gift cards or tickets to the theater to members who use the service frequently. Students, faculty and staff can sign up for NuRide at www.nuride.com.

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Although the service has been available for Rice faculty and staff for approximately two years, Gbordzoe said usage has been fairly low over the past years. Gbordzoe credits high gas prices with the increased usage of the NuRide program over the summer. She said she is confident that the number of participants in the program will continue to rise.

"Once we get more publicity on campus and people are more aware of these programs I am sure they will continue to use them," Gbordzoe said.

Radulescu said the Transportation Office will try to make the Rice community more aware of the services it offers. Gbordzoe said there would be a speech on NuRide Sept. 9, and her office is planning a transportation fair Sept. 17 to raise awareness about these programs.

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