STARKVILLE — Having a list of places to go and things to do without a vehicle is a quagmire many Mississippi State University students face — until now.
MSU”s partnership with Zipcar, the country”s leading shared-vehicle service, will provide four fuel-efficient vehicles at low, hourly and daily rates to students, staff and faculty.
Two cars will be located in the central region of campus while one will be located at Zacharias Village and another at South Hall.
MSU officially launched its Zipcar program Thursday in front of the Colvard Student Union, where Zipcar representative Richard Paisner explained the multiple uses of the vehicles, the benefits and how to sign up.
Registration is done online, where anyone affiliated with campus will be charged a $35 annual registration fee before being issued a membership card. Reservations are done online, by phone or through iPhone or Android applications. Prices range from $8 an hour to $66 a day. A Zipcar can be rented for as many as four days with a max of 180 miles per day. From there, access to the vehicle is as simple as scanning the membership card with a reader on the vehicle”s windshield.
“When they use a Zipcar, gas, insurance, maintenance and parking on campus is all included,” Paisner said. “All you need is a valid drivers license and a credit card.”
Everett Kenard, MSU manager of transportation, said his department and the MSU Student Association researched as many as five vehicle-sharing programs over the past year and picked Zipcar because of its fit with international students.
“Zipcar did a better job of handling international students” driver”s license records from overseas,” Kennard said. “It”s very difficult for a lot of them to get their records out of their country. Zipcar has a definite plan on frequently asked questions on their website that if you have trouble, if you”re from India or Korea or wherever, here”s what you got to do. So we felt like it spelled it out a whole lot better and it was less red tape.”
Kennard credited current SA President Rhett Hobart and former President Thomas Sellers for advocating the need for a shared-vehicle program at MSU.
Hobart said he introduced the program to the international student branch of the SA during orientation last week and received a positive response.
“Coming to the United States and not having a vehicle has to be a little bit frightening, you know?” Hobart said. “But when you come and know you have reliable transportation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it makes you feel a lot more comfortable.
“Mississippi State became the first university in the state to surpass 20,000 students,” he added. “When you look at things like this, we”re looking at ways to improve the quality of life for students and make the experience better.”
Zipcar has been in operation for more than 10 years and has partnerships with more than 200 universities and major cities across the country. One of the major benefits of Zipcar is its “green benefits.” Paisner said each Zipcar takes 15 personally-owned vehicles off the road, which lessens congestion and pollution.
While there”s only four vehicles to begin at MSU, the total could increase or decrease based on utilization.
“Some campuses have two while some have 40,” he added. “We work with universities to make sure they”re fully utilized by faculty, staff and students.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.