Come to Campus - But Leave Your Car at Home; Rice University Contracts With Zipcar to Bring Car Sharing to Campus

HOUSTON - Aug. 26, 2008: Rice University has contracted with Zipcar, the world's largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day, to make car sharing available on campus to students, faculty and staff as an environmentally friendly alternative to the costs and hassles of driving a car to Rice.

This marks Zipcar's entry into Houston and brings its operations to more than 50 cities, including London and 27 North American states and provinces. Car sharing is also another example of Rice's commitment to invest in environmentally friendly programs for the campus and community.

Beginning today, two self-service Zipcars -- a Toyota Prius and Volvo S40 -- will be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week to students, faculty and staff who purchase a Zipcar membership. The cars will be located in the parking lot by Baker College and will be available to Rice employees and students aged 18 and over, with gas, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking included in the hourly and daily rates.

"At Rice we are mindful of the impact our students' transportation choices have on our campus, the community and the environment as a whole," said Eugen Radulescu, director of administrative services at Rice. "By bringing car sharing to our campus, we can encourage students to leave their own vehicles at home during the school year while teaching them to make sustainable transportation choices that we hope will extend beyond their college years."

Richard Johnson, Rice's director of sustainability, added, "I view the Zipcar concept as an important component in Rice's efforts to become a climate-neutral campus. The program will reduce our transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions while providing cheap, high-quality mobility on demand."

The Zipcar program complements Rice's many other sustainable efforts that include building two new energy-efficient residential colleges that are expected to be LEED-certified, the installation of green roofs on several buildings, and construction of a child-care center that has an underground tank to collect rainwater for irrigating plants and trees around the building.

For university students who cannot or do not want to bring a privately owned car to school, Zipcar provides the freedom to travel off campus to run errands, attend appointments or take a weekend trip. Zipcar also eliminates hundreds of dollars in monthly transportation costs and, according to the company, saves members an average of $436 per month or $5,232 per year when compared with car ownership.

Faculty, staff and students will be able to join Zipcar for $35 and will gain access to Rice's Zipcars for $7 per hour or $60 per day. All members 21 years of age and older will have access to Zipcar's network of more than 5,500 vehicles throughout the U.K. and North America.

Among the dozens of colleges that have partnered with Zipcar to reduce traffic, noise and parking demands are MIT, Columbia, Georgetown, American University, Harvard University, University of Minnesota, University of Toronto, University of North Carolina and the University of Chicago.