Zipcar & University of Illinois at Chicago team to bring rentable cars to campus

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) announced today that they are forming a new partnership with Zipcar, Inc., to present a car-sharing program right on the UIC college campus. This collaboration would be extremely beneficial for Zipcar as well as for college campus students and staff.

With the University of Illinois at Chicago working with Zipcar, Inc. on their campus and offering a cost-effective and convenient transportation option that would be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to students, faculty and staff 18 years and older, this would be advantageous in numerous ways.

By having Zipcars available for when staff and/or students need cars, instead of staff and/or students owning cars, this will cut down on parking issues, the money spent on buying cars and insurance for them and car accidents due to overcrowding of the campus streets. It will also cut down on the noxious fuel emissions into the environment from the overabundance of cars on campus.

Renting cars from Zipcar is an extremely cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to owning a car. The program already launched, at UIC with only eight cars to start, five of which are located on the East side of campus, with three cars located in the Medical District on the West side of campus.

On the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, Zipcar members pay a small $25 annual fee, and rates on all Zipcars start as low as $8.75 per hour and $72 per day. To add to the convenience of using Zipcar, gas, insurance, reserved parking spots, up to 180 miles of driving per day and roadside assistance are already included in the hourly and daily Zipcar rates.

The University of Illinois at Chicago is very excited to have Zipcar on their campus. In return, Zipcar is excited to be a part of the UIC campus as well. In a press release, representatives from both UIC and Zipcar made statements.

Cynthia Klein Banai, associate chancellor of sustainability, University of Illinois at Chicago made this statement: “The University of Illinois at Chicago is excited to welcome Zipcar to campus to help further promote a sustainable lifestyle for our students, faculty and staff, while also helping the campus reduce its carbon footprint. We're pleased to offer Zipcar as an alternative transportation option to the campus community, and see this as a great benefit, especially for those who don't have a personal car on campus."

Jonathan Gonsky, general manager, Zipcar Chicago made this statement: “The University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest public university in Chicagoland, and we're thrilled to offer the convenience, flexibility and cost-saving benefits of car sharing to more than 27,000 students on UIC's campus. We're also excited to help support the university's sustainability goals, as Zipcars take personally-owned cars off the road, provide a viable alternative to car ownership, and reduce overall driving, making it an important component of the University's sustainable transportation network."