Two cars the University acquired in a partnership with Zipcar, a worldwide car-sharing service that allows people to rent cars at an hourly rate, are ready for use for any Brandeis student, faculty or staff member, Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins wrote in a campuswide e-mail last Friday. "Beginning Monday September 15, two self-service Zipcars-a Toyota Matrix and a Honda CR-V-are available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cars are located at the Stoneman Public Safety/Campus Police Building Parking Lot," Collins wrote in the e-mail.

Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03 said the University originally hoped that one of the cars would be a Toyota Prius, a hybrid vehicle that would be cheaper for people to rent and would save more energy on campus, but said those are currently on "extreme backorder." The Prius would have been rented instead of the Matrix, Assistant Director of Procurement Services Edward Perkins said.

Any student, faculty member or staffer on campus hoping to rent the cars must first join Zipcar for $35, Collins wrote. The hourly rate for renting the Toyota Matrix will be $8.25, while the rate for the CR-V will be $8.50, Cohen-Rosenthal said. Members will receive a $35 credit toward their first rental, so they will not have to pay the rental fee the first time.

The higher cost for renting the CR-Vs is to account for its higher cost of gas in that car, Cohen-Rosenthal said.

Any student, faculty and staff member may also rent one of the cars for a 24-hour period for a flat rate of $65, according to a University press release. The rental price includes the cost of gas; users must fill the tank if it is less than 1/4 full using a gas card provided by Zipcar, Cohen-Rosenthal said.

Cohen-Rosenthal said she hopes the Zipcars will decrease traffic on campus and provide a cost-effective means of transportation for students. She said that "car-sharing has been shown to reduce personal car use and cars on the road," and that the partnership will make people "really think about the expenses of using a car all the time." She said students, faculty and staff could use the cars to buy groceries, go to their off-campus jobs, run other errands and go on day-long trips.

The University is paying a fee for the right to house the cars in Stoneman.

Those interested on campus will have to rent the cars through the Brandeis University page on the Zipcar Web site on a first-come, first-served basis. They must bring their membership cards and slide them through a transponder located on the driver's side windshield in order to activate the key inside. The card will only work if the user slides it at the time of their reservation, Cohen-Rosenthal said.

"The idea is that if [Zipcars] are used, then [the University] should break even [on its fee], but they really need to be used in order for it to be successful," Cohen-Rosenthal said. She said she's "hopeful" the cars will be used and that Zipcar has "a great track record," but said she didn't "have a great big pronouncement that it'll [be successful]."

Daniel Baronofsky '09 first introduced the idea of bringing Zipcars to campus during his unsuccessful campaign for Senate last fall.

He asked then-Class of 2008 Senator Asher Tanenbaum to continue the campaign, and Tanenbaum brought the idea to Collins' attention, Baronofsky said.

The University announced its partnership with Zipcar last February.

Baronofsky said he hopes the University will market Zipcars to first-years, since they are not allowed to have cars on campus, in the hope that using Zipcar will convince them not to bring their own cars to campus in future years. He also said that while the University would have had a better chance of breaking even on its investment this year if they had finalized the arrangement over the summer, he thinks the initiative will be successful right away.