Students 18 years of age and older will be eligible to rent university Flexcars when they reach the campus this fall, officials announced earlier this month.
Expanding the program to younger students will increase the number of transportation options for dorm dwellers in an attempt to reduce congestion in the city and on the campus, officials said.
“It gives them an opportunity to use a car they wouldn’t have had access to before,” said Ralph Burns, Washington regional Flexcar general manager. “Providing students another added bit of mobility is a great thing.”
The university is one of six in the nation where Flexcar transportation is available to younger undergraduates, who company officials view as an untapped source of revenue. Most rental cars are available only to adults 25 and older.
If the program is successful, officials will expand the program further in the coming months, although no timeline has been set for when more cars would be added to the current fleet, said Flexcar spokesman John Williams.
To use one of the five cars on the campus and in the city, students 18 to 20 years old must prove they have not received traffic tickets or caused an accident in two years, and pay a $250 deposit and $40 in membership fees. They’ll also need written permission from a parent and proof of car insurance, company officials said.
Once approved, students can call and reserve one of the cars for a half-hour or days at a time for a $9 per-hour fee, or $63 a day, which includes the cost of fuel.
A sedan is parked next to the College Park Metro Station for mass-transportation commuters, and on South Campus a pickup truck is parked near Van Munching Hall. An SUV parked near Cole Fieldhouse provides accessibility for users near the mall, and two Hybrid sedans parked near Marie Mount Hall and the Regents Drive Garage make the cars available for users on the east and west sides of the campus.
The university and Flexcar are negotiating to add a fifth car on the campus due to the program’s growing popularity. The car would be located near a high rise dorm, possibly Ellicott Hall, Allen said.
More could come in the future, Allen added.
“I suspect more vehicles on campus, maybe 15 or 20,” he said. “I expect it to grow.”
Flexcars are offered free of charge to faculty and staff who do not hold a UMD or College Park parking permit, and customers may use the cars for three hours a day, or 12 hours a month. The university pays a reduced rate for the service, including membership fees, for faculty and staff use, and paid about $800 for the service last month, Allen said.
Students over 21 must pay membership fees of about $35 and $9 per-hour fees. The university will not subsidize Flexcar payments for students, Allen said.
With just four vehicles on the campus, some students wondered whether enough cars would be available if their use became highly popular among undergraduate students.
“If students find it an attractive enough option, I wonder if we’ll never be able to find one just because of demand,” said Michael Hayes, the director of fraternity and sorority life and a self-described “Flexcar groupie.”
Flexcar officials, however, said they monitor demand to ensure it does not outstrip supply.
“We continually monitor the usage of our cars and when we reach a tipping point we know to add another car,” Burns said.
Flexcar started in Seattle and has since expanded to other metropolitan areas, proving particularly popular in this area. The Washington area has become the second largest market for Flexcar with nearly 160 cars in the area, company officials said.
The program, which is also being tested at the University of Portland in Oregon, the University of California at San Diego, Los Angeles and Berkeley and Emory University in Atlanta, could be expanded to 40 cities in seven states.
Contact reporter Alan J. McCombs at mccombsdbk@gmail.com.
