Saturday, September 22, 2007
Car sharing gains steam on campuses
USATODAY.com: "Carnegie Mellon University has more than 7,000 students, but the downtown Pittsburgh campus offers only 2,700 parking spaces for students, faculty and staff."
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7 comments:
Nice, we’re in USA Today. Really what I would love to see is more campus parking, however I know that isn’t exactly easily done. I’m glad to see that other colleges are jumping on board with this idea. Being in a rather populated metropolitan area, it is important that students are able to have some freedom within the community that they have newly called home. I think it is wise for CMU and other schools to promote exploration in the area, giving students an outlet and hopefully keeping moral up for classes and other university based activities.
Car sharing is a great idea for college campuses. I think Flexcar has a better idea than Zipcar, spacing the cars out around the campus and city. It's cool that Zipcar has 2 in the garage, but what if you live off campus in any of the Oakland housing. I know that Zipcar built the software and interface entirely on their own while Flexcar combined other systems to make theirs, and it is good that they are competing, but it doesn't seem like much of a competition. When I asked the Zipcar reps on campus why should I choose them over Flexcar they said honestly a lot fo out customers have both for different areas they are in and to have a better chance of getting a car. That seems a little more like mutual existence then competition.
I think that it's a great idea but being from LA where riding any kind of public transit is a novelty or an outing for many I cannot fathom not having a car. The first reason this seems like a good idea is that CMU parking services is a horrid pathetic excuse for an organisation with the only way to keep parking in check being to simply raise the prices to absurd amounts. There should be enough spots on campus for all cars. The main reason that I would want to use a car is to get to school and back and to keep one of these cars overnight is going to cost something along the lines of $50 so it seems cheaper to pay parking every day.
This seems to be a good idea. I wonder what their records are of accidents. Or if they will keep the age at 18+. It would be even better if they used hybrid cars. That way they can tackle parking problems and the environment.
Back home (NYC) we had zipcar and it was very popular. Not so much with the teenagers but with adults with children. In New York a car is more of a nuisance than a necessity and a lot of parents in my community had zipcars and only used them once a month to go to costco or take the kids to visit their cousins in New Jersey. In places where parking is limited and public transportation is available i think that zipcar/flexcar is a wonderful idea. I wouldnt want a car to go from home to school and back again. The walk is healthy. I would want a car to go to the waterfront and back. If that only costs 20 dollars for the whole visit rather than the price of the car, the insurance, the gas, the parking, then I'm thrilled.
Considering that pittsburgh's public transportation system is extremely dissapointing. Yes, the buses go where we need to go, but they don't come often enough, and when they do come during rush hours, they're often packed-meaning they won't take any more passengers, meaning we students often end up waiting up to an hour just to board a bus, let alone get to our destination. It's just not reliable, especially if you have to get somewhere within any amount of time. the idea that zipcar has come to our campus is great. will it actually work, though? only time will tell, but i'm not sure how only two cars (which is what cmu now has) can adequately service a campus of over 7000 students. sounds alot like the bussing system in the 'burgh.
I love Zipcar. My upperclassmen friends and I are taking it on a road trip and with 180 miles per day with a flat rate of $55. I love this new program and I heard the CEO of the company is a former CMU alumni. Gas is free too! For those who hate transferring bus after bus, the zipcar is a great alternative.
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