The University of Maine Student Government and Zipcar have partnered to provide Zipcars to campus students, faculty, staff, and community’s residents. The goal is to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to the having a vehicle on campus. This new partnership continues the University of Maine’s strong commitment to provide sustainable transportation options that decrease the parking demand on campus–and reduce the traffic impacts on the local community.
This partnership grows Zipcar’s on-campus college programs to more than 50 university partners nationwide.
Starting immediately, two self service Zipcars — a Toyota Hybrid Prius and a Mazda 3 — will be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cars will be located in the Maine Center for the Arts Parking Lot, near the center of the University of Maine college campus.
Recent studies by Zipcar have shown that the Zipcar car sharing programs have many “green” benefits to college campuses and local communities. Each Zipcar will replace up to 20 personally-owned vehicles, reducing the need for additional parking spaces and replacing older vehicles with new ones that have more stringent pollution controls. Zipcar members tend to drive significantly less, resulting in less congestion and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Members tend to use a variety of alternative modes and use Zipcar only when they need to.
Earlier this year, the University of Maine became the first Maine employer to be recognized by the ‘Best Workplaces for Commuters’ program for efforts to reduce pollution, commuting costs and traffic congestion. The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Among the programs for which UMaine was recognized is an arrangement with the Bangor Area Transportation (BAT) bus service, providing free transportation to all faculty, staff and students anywhere on the BAT system; and a Green Bike program, where green-painted bikes are left in various spots around campus for use by anyone who wishes to use two-wheeled transportation.
The Zipcar car sharing program will help these other programs continue to grow. By offering access to a vehicle on the occasions when one is needed, car sharing encourages people to adopt alternative modes of transportation, rather than bringing their own car to campus.
Membership in the Zipcar program costs $35 to all University of Maine students, faculty, and staff 18 years of age and older. Membership provides access to University of Maine Zipcars for rates starting at $7 per hour or $55 per day. For a limited time, University of Maine affiliate members will receive $35 in driving credit as an incentive when they register for the program. The low hourly and daily rates include gas, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking. Community residents 21 years of age and older are also eligible to join and use Zipcar vehicles; different membership rates apply. All members ages 21 and older will also gain access to Zipcar’s network of more than 3,500 vehicles throughout North America and the United Kingdom. Interested UCSC students, faculty, staff, and community members can apply to join Zipcar at www.zipcar.com/maine.
Zipcar is the world’s largest and fastest growing car sharing service, with more than 120,000 members and 3,500 vehicles in major metropolitan areas and colleges campuses, including San Francisco, Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Vancouver, Toronto and London, England. As a leading urban lifestyle brand, Zipcar provides a convenient and cost effective transportation alternative for individuals, businesses and universities in more than 35 cities throughout North America and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.zipcar.com.