Students on campus will be able to use and enjoy the self-service car sharing service, Zipcar starting Nov. 7.
The University partnered with Zipcar to become one of many universities that offer car-rental service. This partnership will give students and faculty alike an eco-friendly and convenient transportation option, which will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We are happy to welcome St. John’s University to the group of over 300 universities that have Zipcar on campus,” Katelyn Lopresti, general manager for Zipcar University said in statement.
Zipcar will bring two cars to campus, a Ford Focus Hatchback and a Honda Civic. Both will be parked in the lot next to the ROTC and Campus Safety building and may be reserved by students and employees who are 18 or older.
Reservations can be made within seconds online or on a mobile device. If you are a Zipcar member, you pay only for the time that you use the vehicle, and have no additional monetary responsibility when it comes to the obligations of owning a car, such as gas, insurance, parking, registration and maintenance.
The first year of membership costs $25 ($35 for each year after that) and also includes $35 in driving credit for the first month. Also included with membership are discounted hourly rates, gas, insurance and maintenance.
“St. John’s University is pleased to partner with Zipcar to make car sharing simple and affordable for our University Community,” Jackie Lochrie, associate dean for student services, said in a statement. “Having cars accessible on campus is a perfect amenity particularly for our students who may want the convenience of a car for running errands or stocking up on groceries, but don’t want the expense or commitment of owning a car in New York City.”
The University’s partnership with Zipcar also supports the school’s sustainability efforts as a whole. Since 2007, as part of joining Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 Challenge to reduce carbon emissions on college campuses, St. John’s has successfully worked to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. The school has since been awarded a GOLD rating by The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System.
Because Zipcar will now be offered on campus, student organizations will have an opportunity to participate in the “Students with Drive” grant program, which provides a Zipcar membership and driving credit to support different organizations on campus. The grant is sponsored by Zipcar and the Ford Motor Company.
Through the “Drive” program, Zipcar and Ford will be able to provide $300,000 in grants to be awarded to student organizations at participating Zipcar universities. The program has already started, and will end in April 2014. It will culminate with one student organization being awarded $5000 in driving credit, $10,000 in cash for the organization to put toward its cause and $10,000 in cash to be awarded to the organization’s school.
