Inside Duke Medicine

Eco-friendly Zipcars are now available at Duke

Duke University students returning to campus this week were greeted with a pleasant surprise: four new cars, including two hybrids, available for their use.

Starting Thursday, Zipcars, from the world’s largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day, are available at Duke, providing students, faculty and staff who are age 18 and older with an eco-friendly transportation alternative to keeping a car on campus. Zipcar rates start at $8 an hour or $66 per day. Fuel, maintenance and insurance are included. For more information.

“Duke is committed to environmentally friendly transportation alternatives, and Zipcar’s service is in line with the university’s goal to provide more sustainable options to students, faculty and staff,” said Kemel W. Dawkins, vice president for campus services. “This is the latest example of how Duke is working to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on campus.”

Duke senior Sunny Kantha, executive vice president of the Duke Student Government, said Zipcars are especially convenient for students who cannot or do not want to bring a car to campus. Kantha and other members of Duke Student Government and Duke Environmental Alliance encouraged Duke officials to launch the Zipcar program.

“There are a lot of students who have really been looking forward to getting Zipcars on campus,” said Kantha, 21. “This will be a lot more convenient than having to ask a friend for a ride or to borrow their car. Plus, it’s a great way to cut back on traffic and emissions on campus.”

Duke faculty, staff and students who meet eligibility requirements can join Zipcar for $35. The fee is applied as a credit toward rental in the first month. Members age 18 to 20 can only reserve Zipcars assigned to the Duke campus; members 21 and older have access to Zipcar’s network of more than 5,500 vehicles throughout North America and the United Kingdom.

The two hybrid Prius vehicles and two Toyota Matrix cars are parked on Duke’s West Campus and available through online or mobile phone reservations.

Duke, which joins roughly 120 colleges and universities offering Zipcar on campus, recently launched other initiatives to promote alternative transportation, such as discounted city and regional bus passes and Duke GreenRide, an online carpool matching service.