Green Vt. fuels Zipcar presence
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Vermont Law School students and staff check out the new Zipcars on campus. Photo provided |
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: September 8, 2009
SOUTH ROYALTON - In another sign of its commitment to environmentalism, Vermont Law School has unveiled a car-share program for faculty, staff and students.
The school has partnered with Zipcar - the world's largest car-share service - to bring two cars to campus. The initiative was born from students' desire to get around in a way that is both inexpensive and environmentally conscious, said Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Diversity Shirley Jefferson.
"Students told us that they were seeking an environmentally friendly solution to their transportation needs," Jefferson said. "The administration and students together researched our options and discovered that Zipcar provides our students the transportation freedom they need and is in keeping with Vermont Law School's strong environmental focus."
U.S. News and World Report ranks VLS the No. 1 environmental law school in the country.
Matthew Malloy, vice president of global university operations for Zipcar, said VLS had a niche that Zipcar could fill.
"There are two distinct audiences for this: faculty and staff," Malloy said. "Vermont Law School is kind of unique in that the school doesn't have fleet vehicles."
Zipcar has brought two vehicles to VLS - an all-wheel-drive Toyota Matrix and a Toyota Prius - that are left in reserved spaces in the upper Oakes parking lot. For $35, faculty, staff and students join Zipcar, which buys access to the company's 5,500 vehicles in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Users then pay as they go - $8 per hour or $66 per day weekdays and $9 per hour or $72 per day on weekends. The hourly and daily rates include all the expenses associated with car ownership - gas, insurance, registration, maintenance - and Zipcar says it saves members an average of $600 a month when compared to owning a vehicle outright.
Earlier this month, students received a demonstration in how Zipcar works, from initial enrollment to reserving a vehicle online to using a key card to enter the car, which contains the ignition key and a fuel card.
It is difficult to quantify the initial demand for Zipcar at VLS. Zipcar does not share the number of people who have enrolled at VLS and while the school has about 600 students, it offers no student housing so every student already commutes in some fashion. As a demographic, however, students do appear to have embraced the service, which is on about 120 campuses in the U.S. and the U.K., and two in Vermont, including Middlebury College.
Middlebury College pays $38,600 a year to have a Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid on campus, and about 300 of the school's roughly 2,400 students - nearly all of whom live on campus - have signed up for the service, said Director of Business Services Thomas Corbin.
As the cars are used, the college receives credits toward the fee it pays to have the cars on campus. Corbin said the cars are used about 40 percent of the time, leaving the school on the hook for only $3,900 for the most recent fiscal year ending June 30.
"We haven't received complaints that the cars aren't available, but if we did, or if we saw use rise to 65 or 70 percent, we'd think about getting another one," Corbin said. "We think it's successful. Students and faculty seem to like it."
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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