OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi is adding the car-sharing services Zipcar and Zimride to its multiple transportation options on campus.
“With the University of Mississippi offering both Zipcar and Zimride, the university now has one of the most comprehensive campus transit programs in the country with convenient and accessible bike-share, car-share, ride-share programs, along with the increasingly popular Oxford-University Transit bus system,” said Jim Morrison, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability. “UM’s enhanced transit program will allow students and the community to easily get around Oxford without a car, which not only decreases the burden of paying for gas, but the new transit options also help reduce traffic congestion and improve the quality of life for everyone.”
Zipcar, a popular car-share network, provides vehicles to its members on an hourly or daily basis. The hourly and daily rates cover gas, maintenance, insurance and even roadside assistance.
“It’s really convenient and reasonable,” said Anne McCauley, project coordinator for campus sustainability. “We feel that students and the community will be excited to learn about both of these programs.”
People affiliated with the university can join Zipcar for a $35 annual fee. Hourly rates start as low as $8 Mondays through Fridays and $9 on weekends. Daily costs start at $66 on weekdays and $72 on weekends.
Registration will be available in mid-August for all students, faculty and staff ages 18 and older, as well as to members of the local community ages 21 and older. Those interested in joining can do so by visiting http://zipcar.com/olemiss.
Cars can be reserved for as short as an hour or for multiple days, and reservations can be made minutes in advance or up to a year ahead. Zipcar even offers fun and functional mobile applications for both iPhone and Android users that honk the horn to help locate a Zipcar and unlock the doors.
Zimride is a private online social networking site devoted to establishing rides. Free for the Ole Miss community, the site allows users to connect with others who are looking to carpool in the area.
“As a staff member, I could log on and post my commute to work,” McCauley said. “I could say that I am interested in riding, driving or both. Zimride matches you with others who have posted similar information, and then you can message that person and ask if they want to share the ride.
“Students can use it to get back and forth to campus, to connect with rides going to the airport or to connect with rides going to a special event, like an away game. It’s a really neat tool and has a level of technological sophistication that will appeal to students.”
The site is up and running at http://zimride.olemiss.edu. Users can create a profile or log in through their Facebook account.
Zipcar and Zimride work well with each other, McCauley said.
“These particular programs have an interconnection,” she said. “When you reserve your Zipcar, it will ask you if you want to post the ride on Zimride. That way, you can get riders to share the cost of your Zipcar.”
The new programs will help make the campus more sustainable, said Larry Sparks, vice chancellor for administration and finance.
“As enrollments increase and external funding sources become more challenging, it is imperative that we continue to pursue new and creative ways to operate smarter and more efficiently,” he said. “I believe Zipcar and Zimride are two great examples. Participation in these two options will make available to our students, as well as faculty and staff, transportation options that are creative, efficient and sustainable, and require very small investments when compared to institutionally sponsored infrastructure and transportation options.”
Mariel Parman, sustainability director for the Associated Student Body, said that students appreciate the wide range of transportation options on campus.
“I am very excited Ole Miss is launching Zipcar and Zimride this fall because these two programs will help propel the university forward in its pledge to becoming a more sustainable campus,” she said. “I believe students will be impressed with the simplicity and accessibility of Zipcar and Zimride. At a time when Ole Miss is struggling with parking issues, Zipcar and Zimride are excellent additions to the university’s growing options of transportation sources.”
Morrison and McCauley agree that it is important to have a number of transportation options for the university community. In addition to Zipcar and Zimride, students can take the Oxford-University Transit system free of charge and rent bikes from the Rebel Pedals program.
“We would like to offer a robust package of transportation options to students and to the university community,” McCauley said. “By offering all these options, the students don’t feel that it’s necessary to have a car here on campus. The students have access to the Oxford-University Transit bus, the Rebel Pedals bike-share program and now they have access to a car. So it really completes our set of transportation options.”
