CarShare expands to campus

Car rental service has two new spots in the parking lot of Tindall Field

Student CarShare's reserved parking spot in the lot next to Tindall Field
Image by: Jacob Rosen
Student CarShare's reserved parking spot in the lot next to Tindall Field was added this summer.

Student CarShare has added two cars to the Tindall Field parking this summer to make the service more accessible to students. 

Before the addition, the car rental service only had two cars, which were located off-campus by the Starbucks on Johnson and Division Streets. The cars became available in the summer of 2013 as part of the company’s launch.

“We saw a niche in the market that we wanted to fill,” Jared Kaminsky, marketing manager at Student CarShare, said. “The two new cars were added because we saw increased use of the cars at Division, along with customer demand for a spot on campus.”

Student CarShare is a car rental service similar to Zipcar. Members sign up with a credit card for access to the cars, which they can then pay an hourly rate to use.

The AMS helped bring the car rental service to campus in return for promotional free memberships for students starting in June.

“The AMS helped to facilitate the implementation of the spot, coordinating between both the University administration and Student CarShare,” Jessamine Luck, AMS communications officer, told The Journal via email.

At the beginning of June 2014, the AMS announced the partnership and promoted a limited number of free student memberships. According to Luck, there will be more promotional events during the coming year.

Since 2013, Student CarShare has expanded to 36 campuses across the country, including 25 in Ontario and one in Kingston at St. Lawrence College.

The Toronto-based company isn’t the first car-share service at Queen’s. VRTUCAR, an Ottawa-based company, also has a car in the Tindall parking lot. However, drivers must be 21 years or older with a full G licence to use the service.

Student CarShare, meanwhile, accepts members 18 years old and over with a G2 license or above. The company advertises itself as an option for students who can’t use traditional car rental services, which, like VRTUCAR, usually require that drivers are over 21.

Membership for Student CarShare is a one-time sign-up fee, which then gives acess to the cars based on hourly rental fees that vary based on the time and day of the week.

With a membership, cars become available at hourly rates of $6 before noon on weekdays and $9 after noon. The weekend rates, which begin Friday at 5 p.m., are $10.

Tags

car rental, CarShare, Transportation, VRTUCAR

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