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Students call Zipcars 'phenomenally useful' and 'a blessing'

Without a car, moving out of a dorm room can be overwhelming, if not impossible. Luckily for Jeffrey Wexler ’10, Zipcars came to campus just in time.

“They were phenomenally useful when moving my room into storage,” he said.

Wexler, who will be studying abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland next semester, was the first student to take advantage of the College’s newest transportation option and has used it about seven more times.

“The program was really easy to sign up for and use,” he said. “Once I received my personalized Zipcard in the mail, I just had to go online and make a reservation.”

The College announced its partnership with Zipcar Inc. in November. Now students, faculty and staff are able to join Zipcar at www.zipcar.com/connecticutcollege and make rental reservations for the College’s two cars 24 hours a day and up to a year in advance.

Already, Michael Escosia ’09 used a Zipcar to drive to a doctor’s appointment and restaurants. He enjoys not having to be tied to a schedule or worried about insurance, which is included with a Zipcar membership. A Nevada native, he didn’t think it made sense to have his own car on campus.

“Being from the west, it isn’t feasible to purchase a car here because I spend most of my vacations at home – and that's the time when I really need a car – so having Zipcar available to me is a blessing,” he said.

Distance isn’t the only reason to use a Zipcar – students from New England are taking advantage of it, too.

“I find it pretty affordable compared to riding around in Harry's Taxis,” said Tremana White ’11 of Jamaica Plain, Mass. She used it to travel with three friends to Providence, R.I. for Festivus dress shopping and a Brown-Columbia football game.

“It was freezing that day so it was fun but extremely cold,” she said. “During halftime we had to escape to the car to get warm.”



January 13, 2009