The Virginian-Pilot
©
Walking a few blocks for his Old Dominion University classes is one thing for graduate student Srinivas Jakkula. Hoofing it to MacArthur Center or Kroger is another.
When the 23-year-old heard about rental cars on campus, he signed up.
"I use it for everything," Jakkula said. "We go shopping for groceries, trips, we go to Williamsburg for shopping."
Old Dominion is the first Virginia university to partner with Zipcar, a car-sharing service that offers rentals by the hour or by the day. With an annual $50 fee, plus rental fees that cover gas and insurance, anyone on campus can reserve one of two cars at any time. More than 70 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada use the service.
As more of ODU's students live on or near campus, university officials hope that the service will help accommodate a growing population as the school uses more of its real estate for classrooms and not parking lots.
"Land is getting to be very precious at Old Dominion," said James Long, director of parking and transportation at the university.
One of his department's goals is to adjust people's driving habits. Long wants students to use their personal cars less and switch to services the school offers, including a shuttle that makes stops around campus during the week, and treks to MacArthur Center on Thursdays through Sundays, and Kroger and Wal-Mart on Saturdays. Other van and carpool programs are being planned.
So far, the rental cars are being used only 30 percent of the time. The silver Mini Cooper Sport and the white Honda Civic Hybrid most days are parked in lot 20 near Kaufman Hall. Long would like to see usage double.
The rental procedure is simple, according to Long and the Zipcar Web site.
Renters register at the company Web site to receive a membership card and make reservations online or over the phone. Renters then use their membership card to electronically unlock the car; a gas card is kept inside, and the keys are tethered to the steering column.
Drivers return the car to the reserved spot, waving their membership cards by an electronic scanner to stop the clock. Rental includes 180 miles, with a charge for each additional mile. If renters are running late, they can call and extend their reservation time. Long's department takes care of the maintenance. Rental fees average about $10 an hour or $70 a day, depending on the car.
Renters must be at least 21 with a valid license for at least one year. A good driving record also is required, including no major violations, such as reckless driving, in the past three years, no more than two "incidents" - moving violations plus accidents - in the past three years and no more than one incident in the past 18 months.
Jakkula said the fees fit into his budget and are worth the convenience; it's still cheaper than trying to buy a car.
"I'm happy with it."
Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com
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urbanbackwater, two or three
urbanbackwater, two or three weeks ago a student was hit by a car crossing Hampton Blvd. There have been several instances of pedestrians being hit in the 4 years I have been at ODU, thankfully none of them fatal.
foreign students
Rose, me being an international student, we don't get grants from the US govt. We fight hard to get good grades for ISS( International student scholarship which is funded by the school itself). Though I have a 3.6 GPA, I get only $ 4000 scholarship, but still each year I got to pay more than $ 20,000 for my tuition excluding the scholarship. Hope that makes sense to you.
BTW, on the subject of pedestrians at ODU
While there are close calls all the time, I don't ever recall an accident involving a pedestrian occurring in the last 10 years. However, with more development on both sides of Hampton Blvd, the probability of a fatality grows. If LRT comes down the middle of Hampton, it will probably be a train that will yield the first vehicle-person fatality.
No, its "priming" for Light Rail
Its no secret that ODU has been on a mission to become commuter unfriendly to get rid of commuter students who are viewed as second class citizens because we're not rich kids from NOVA living in overpriced Norfolk. Over the years, I've watched all the at-grade parking lots give way to more buildings. Making parking tough is the same strategy that Norfolk used to justify LRT for serving Downtown. Now the same thing is going on for ODU. BUT, for ODU to say zipcar is a solution for parking...what!?!? ODU created this manufactured crisis for light rail, what the heck does zipcar have to do with that?
Those zipcar parking spots
Those zipcar parking spots can be found all over Washington DC. Hmm, they are protected by an electronic access card? Is it a smartcard? Anyone know which platform? Is it the same one that Norfolk uses for parking meters (that I believe has already been compromised in terms of end users adding time to their cards?)
Agreed Goldfinch
The powers that be at ODU created the parking problems. IMO, they should be the ones paying for the rental cars. And for the number of times either I or others have come close to hitting ODU students who don't obey traffic laws when it comes to crossing Hampton Blvd. I sometimes have to wonder what they are teaching there - it certainly isn't any sense of common sense.
I've got an idea: they should turn the maglev bridge over Hampton Blvd into a pedestrian walkway: that would put that useless piece of steel and concrete to good use finally. Then it would take training to get the students to use it.
To Rose
Rose, foreign students tend to study and excel more than American students in hardcore science and engineering fields. These are fields that our educational system has made our American students ill-prepared to study at university levels. The foreign students from my experience (I am an electrical engineering alumni, May 2008) tend to participate more and contributre more to reserach and experiments. Also, many of the foreign students were NOT receiving US funds for going to school. If anything, the job opportunities in research are also available to American students but the foreign studnets are the ones that apply for those positions.
Zip Cars and Parking
To say that land is very tight is by the doing of ODU officials. They take away parking from students for the entire day so that the Big Blue sports club can have parking for a night basketball game. They take away parking on 43rd Street across from the library. They take away student parking to have parking metered spaces in the parking garages, which by the way these spaces are always empty. So, if ODU wants to complain about the parking they need to look at themselves and realize that they have created the parking chaos.
Just a few questions.
This seems all well and good, but how many college students are over 21 years old? If the students are US citizens, they likely graduated from high school at 17 or 18. That means they'll be either Juniors or Seniors before they could rent these cars. Of course it seems ODU is about half foreign students (likely here on some kind of grant paid for by US taxpayer), it seems the foreign students are quite a bit older. The other question is the price. Can't you get a discount on car rentals and end up with a price of about $30 a day? It is a smart idea, just bad pricing and probably nearly unworkable due to the cost of cars/maintenance/insurance. Then again, years ago, in Europe (don't know how it is now), the students and most young people used scooters (Vespar type) to get around on. I guess now days the kids would be too "extreme" on them to make it safe enough to ride. If you go down Hampton Blvd and see how many students can't seem to read the "DON'T WALK" lights at crosswalks, you wouldn't want to see them on a motorized two wheeled vehicle.
Great Service
Maybe this will help expand ZipCar service in our area. What a neat idea.