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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Boise State tries car sharing

School official says program is first of kind in Idaho

Jessie L. Bonner Associated Press

BOISE – On a campus where students outnumber parking spaces nearly three to one, Boise State University has finally convinced 23-year-old Wayel Alwayel he no longer needs the car he brought to campus with him as a freshman.

The new hybrid car parked near the student union building this fall, available for $8 an hour, sealed the deal.

The senior plans to sell his 9-year-old Mitsubishi sedan and rent one of the four Zipcars on campus if he needs to run an errand.

“It’s cheaper,” he said. “You don’t have to pay the gas; you don’t have to have insurance, which is really cool.”

Colleges hoping to relieve parking congestion and promote environmentally friendly transportation are increasingly turning to the concept of car sharing.

Boise State is among more than 30 universities and colleges that have introduced Zipcars to students this fall.

“I think one of the key drivers is Zipcar really helps to save people money, and that’s really important to college students, as well as their parents,” said Greg Winter, a spokesman for the Cambridge, Mass.-based company.

There’s also the bling factor, if only for a few hours.

When Alwayel, the Boise State student, and his wife, 20-year-old Fatemah, needed a ride to the Boise Islamic Center for a Ramadan gathering, they left their old car at home and went online to reserve the dark blue Prius parked on campus.

“It’s a brand new car, and mine is old,” Alwayel said.

While major metropolitan cities have long offered car sharing services, the idea is relatively new to more rural states like Idaho, said Casey Jones, director of transportation and parking at Boise State. The school’s new car sharing service is Idaho’s first, said Jones, who also sits on the International Parking Institute’s board of directors.

“That creates some challenges for us – students have much less exposure to the concept,” Jones said.

The campus has nearly 20,000 students, about 2,000 faculty and staff, and just 7,000 parking spaces.

“It’s pretty easy, using quick math, to know that we don’t have a parking space for everyone,” Jones said. “We’re really moving forward on alternatives to driving alone, more sustainable choices.”