Owning a car on campus can be both a luxury and an annoyance, but a new program may spare students who own cars from the usual barrage of requests for rides.
It has been two months since the inception of the Zipcar program on Duke's campus, and both administrators and Duke Student Government leaders said they are pleased with the progress so far, although they noted that the University is not currently breaking even with costs of the service.
"I believe the program is doing well," said Kemel Dawkins, vice president for campus services. "But clearly it's in its early stages."
Zipcar leases the cars to the University at around $1,500 a month for each vehicle, said Chuck Catotti, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
The costs are covered by the rental fees from the students and faculty, and the University keeps whatever it earns back from the rentals, said sophomore Mike Lefevre, DSG's vice president for athletics and campus services.
As of right now usage is not high enough to meet the costs of the program, Catotti said, but school officials expected this to be the case in the early stages of the program. They noted that they are happy with the numbers so far and predict usage will continue to rise and further offset the costs.
As of early February, Zipcars have been in use 22 percent of the time that they are available, according to statistics provided by Dawkins. Usage peaks during the weekends at 40 percent, compared to just 14 percent during the weekdays. Also 125 members, most of them students, had signed up for the program as of early last month and administrators expect this number has grown since then.
The early numbers are very strong for such a young program, said Jeffrey Potter, director of real estate administration.
"We didn't run it like a pilot program," Lefevre said. "At the end of the year we'll get together to see how many people signed up."
During certain times of the day, the cars are available for rent instantly, but at other times they are almost all in use, Lefevre said. The times between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the peak hours of usage, he noted.
Both Lefevre and Dawkins said the current success of the program has opened up the possibility of expanding.
"We're looking at the numbers," Dawkins said. "There is an expected growth pattern which we will be monitoring closely, but let's just get through the next couple of months."
Zipcar allows students to rent one of four cars for a minimum of one hour and up to four days. The program, which began at the start of the Spring 2009 semester, has been a project of the University since Spring 2008, Dawkins said.
About 41 percent of undergraduates have parking permits, but some of the students without cars are enjoying the benefits of having Zipcar at their disposal.
"It's been an amazing experience every time," junior Paul Holmer said. "It's nice not to have to rely on a roommate or friend. You have your own car."
Both DSG and Parking and Transportation Services were interested in Zipcar at the same time, Dawkins said.
Zipcar runs the program and works in conjunction with the University to verify those who sign up as students or faculty of Duke. The company maintains the cars and lends its support for any technical problems.
Holmer said he thinks the prices are fair considering that having a car on campus will amount to costs such as a parking permit, gas and insurance, as well as monthly payments.
Sophomore Rosie Gellman she signed up for the Zipcar program as soon as Duke announced it was coming to campus.
"I am really glad they have it. It makes me feel like a real person again," she said. "I wish [the prices] were lower. I guess it covers gas and insurance and that's good."
Lefevre is proud of the effort put into creating awareness among students and faculty about the program, but he thinks that word of mouth and students seeing the cars around will increase popularity.
Currently, he is trying to get Zipcar information into the freshman orientation blue books in order to give students the option of leaving their cars at home.
"I've heard people say to me, 'I wouldn't have brought a car freshman year if we had Zipcar,'" he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.