The curbs of Lehigh Road received new décor on Friday with the addition of two new silver Honda Civics with Flexcar bumper stickers.
The addition to the car-sharing program, which increases Flexcar’s presence to nine in various locations in College Park, can be used by the public as soon as this weekend, according to Robert Stumpff, the city’s director of public works.
Five Flexcars are now available on the campus, two at the College Park Metro Station and two in the downtown area around Route 1. Flexcar official John Williams said he expects an addition to the university fleet, but “it’s just a question of when.”
“Flexcar is going to work with us to see if there’s a possibility of looking at bringing other Flexcars to the city,” Stumpff said. “As additional apartments get built on the north side of College Park, we could potentially add more down there.”
Flexcar is now found on more than 20 campuses across the nation. A major reason for this popularity is the company’s youth-friendly policy, which allows students as young as 18 to drive their cars. In contrast, the typical rental service requires patrons be 21 years old.
“Flexcar is great for a lot of students who don’t have cars,” said Jahantab Siddiqui, former president of the Off-Campus Student Association. “Flexcar is a cheap option.”
University students pay a $35 membership fee and with a university code, they receive $50 credit after registering. The service costs $9 per hour for each use. University employees who are members of Flexcar receive up to 12 hours of free driving hours if they drive from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and their reservations are under three hours.
Flexcar is part of a university effort to reduce the commuter parking crunch. David Allen, director of Transportation Services, estimates that although there is no direct correlation, the university has been issuing fewer commuter parking permits. In the 2005-2006 school year, the university issued 3,500 permits, and 2,000 were provided last year, Allen said.
“Flexcars allows people to commute to work via public transportation, and gives them the availability to have access to a car in the middle of the day during an emergency or an appointment,” Allen said.
A study conducted by the Transportation Research Board, a think tank jointly administered by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, said Flexcar could cause a “long term reduction in congestion, but in the short term there will be a learning curve until people start understanding [how to use alternate transportation],” according to Ralph Burns, general manager of the Metro Area Flexcars.
Brittany Webster, the current president of the Off-Campus Student Association, said she is seeing more students – both campus residents and commuters – express interest. But with more demand, some students fear the service could become overburdened.
“I think it might be one of those things that seem great on the surface,” said Lauren Shisler, a 2006 graduate who has used Flexcar in Washington. “Once the word gets out about how great it is, what are five cars honestly going to do for the thousands of commuter students? It will become this annoying process where you have to reserve one months and months in advance or sit on a waiting list.”
Contact reporter Tirza Austin at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.
