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Lack A Vehicle? Try A Sharing Service

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By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 15, 2007

TAMPA - Car-less University of South Florida students could get an alternative to their usual transportation choices - walking, riding bicycles and taking buses - under a program that's showing up at campuses nationwide.

Called car sharing, the program offers students a chance to rent cars, hybrids, pickups and other vehicles by the hour and pick them up at designated parking spots. A researcher at the university's Center for Urban Transportation Research is exploring the idea and hopes to make a formal proposal within a few months.

'If students are living on campus and don't have a car, then you can rent one to go to the beach, or to the store, to move furniture, visit friends. It can be helpful in that sense,' associate researcher Julie Bond said.

It's hard to say how many students and faculty might use the program - Bond is trying to come up with estimates - but the Tampa campus has 1,680 faculty members and 38,417 students, 4,326 of whom live in dorms.

School officials haven't signed off on the idea yet but say the concept sounds intriguing.

Car sharing works like this: Users sign up for a membership and receive a magnetic card to unlock the vehicles they plan to rent. Hourly fees range from $5 to $10. Annual memberships start at about $35.

The vehicles can be reserved online or by calling, and the company pays for insurance and gas.

The two main car-sharing companies, Cambridge, Mass.-based Zipcar and Seattle-based Flexcar, have programs on about 50 campuses nationwide, including the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Bond is director of the New North Transportation Alliance, a group that pushes for transportation options. She said the program is perfect for people like her who bike to work and occasionally take long trips. Bond used Zipcar on a recent visit to Washington, D.C.

'It's great. You just swipe the card and the doors unlock,' she said. 'You bring it back to the same spot when you're done.'

The concept might one day be available throughout more of Tampa. The Tampa Downtown Partnership is considering bringing car sharing to downtown Tampa in 2012, by which time the city's Channelside and downtown populations are expected to have grown by 10,000 residents.

More than 1,400 condo units are under construction and 11,000 are planned over the next 10 years, said Patrick Berman, senior director at the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The partnership is seeking a $90,000 federal grant through the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization to pay for the program's first-year costs.

'We're selling downtown Tampa as an urban experience, and when people move down here I don't think they'll want to drive their car everywhere,' said Karen Kress, director of transportation for the downtown partnership.

'It's more affordable if a couple can get rid of their car. It cuts down on parking and they can rely on transit, bicycles or their feet, and if they need a car they can rent one,' she said.

The University of Florida launched its program in January using Flexcar. It has eight vehicles: three hybrid Honda Civics, two Honda Odyssey minivans, a Honda Element, a Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Tacoma pickup.

The school pays $76,800 yearly to Flexcar, or $800 per month per car. Those who rent the vehicles pay the company $5.50 per hour, said Allan Preston, a coordinator for the school's maintenance division.

Under UF's agreement, rental fees that exceed $76,800 per year will go back to the university in the form of a reimbursement.

Preston said the idea is to boost membership and usage of the cars so annual revenue hits $153,600, or twice the amount paid each year to Flexcar. That would make the program self-sustaining.

So far, the school has 264 members. Preston figures it will need about 400 members to hit 100 percent reimbursement.

'The University of North Carolina did it within two years. I figure we can do it in the same time,' he said, adding the two universities have similar enrollments.

Bond said she's working out the details of her plan and will make a formal pitch to university officials in a few months.

'It would be a good idea here if it would encourage students and faculty to use other transportation choices than driving their cars,' she said. 'It's good for the environment. It's good for saving energy and also for relieving congestion. That's always good.'

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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