Carnegie Mellon University, Zipcar Partner to Bring Car Sharing to Campus

CAMBRIDGE, MA (August 28, 2007) — Carnegie Mellon University and Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing service, today announced a joint partnership to provide Zipcars on campus to university faculty, staff, and students as an environmentally friendly alternative to the costs and hassles of keeping a car on campus. The partnership continues Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to invest in sustainable solutions on campus and marks Zipcar’s entry into Pennsylvania, bringing its operations to 24 cities, including London, England, and 15 North American states and provinces.

Beginning today, two self-service Zipcars – a Toyota Hybrid Prius and a Mazda 3 – will be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cars will be located in the University’s East Campus Garage and be available to all staff and students aged 18+, with gas, maintenance, insurance and reserved parking included in low hourly and daily rates. Zipcar was selected as Carnegie Mellon University’s car sharing partner based on its superior technology and operations, membership experience and track record of providing peer universities with a proven, cost effective, and environmentally-friendly transportation solution.

"The partnership with Zipcar provides us with a sustainable program to address campus parking and transportation needs while providing students with flexible alternate transportation,” said Tim Michael, assistant vice president for campus services at Carnegie Mellon. "We look forward to working with Zipcar to develop the university’s car sharing initiative and to help provide members of our campus community with a solution that best matches their needs.”

The Zipcar relationship furthers Carnegie Mellon’s reputation as an environmental leader.  Home to the country’s first “green dorm,” the university has been recognized internationally for its leadership in environmental sustainability research and green practices, including its use of renewable resources on campus and its comprehensive recycling program.

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 attend interviews, run errands, or take a weekend trip. Zipcar also eliminates hundreds of dollars in monthly transportation costs, saving members an average of $436/month or $5,232/year when compared with car ownership – money that can be put toward other more relevant expenses such as tuition and housing.

Faculty, staff, and students will be able to join Zipcar for $35 and will gain access to Carnegie Mellon Zipcars for $7 per hour or $55 per day. All members 21+ will also have access to Zipcar's network of more than 3,000 vehicles throughout the UK and North America.

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

For more information on Zipcar's on-campus programs, contact Adam Brophy at abrophy@zipcar.com.