Commuting concerns are especially salient now because of rising fuel costs and increasing traffic congestion, assistant Provost Mary Gorman said.
"I'm excited," Gorman said. "I hope that it really makes getting to work for a lot of people a lot easier."
There will be two Zipcars on campus beginning Fall term. Students, faculty, employees and Hanover residents will be able to rent a car by the hour or day for a nominal registration fee. The price, which is set by Zipcar, has not yet been confirmed, Gorman said.
The Zipcar program should allow people who otherwise would not have access to a car to use one for a set period of time to run errands, among other activities, Gorman said. Gorman added that she hoped many students who would otherwise bring cars to Dartmouth will opt to use Zipcars instead, which will address parking and environmental concerns. Only students 21 years old and older, though, are eligible to rent Zipcars. Still, some of the people using Zipcars, Gorman said, will be those who would not have driven otherwise.
The College has also instituted a van pool pilot program in which Dartmouth leases, insures and maintains up to four 12-passanger vans to be used by faculty and staff who want to share rides to commute to campus. Members of the van pool will only be responsible for paying for gas, and the College will compensate each driver with $30 per month. Each van should cost the College $7,000 to $8,000 per year, Gorman said. The first van pool, currently underway, includes 10 participants.
User support technician Mark Heels, who is trying to start a van pool, said he believes it will be a more reliable method to get to work than riding the bus, as he does currently. The program should also be much cheaper than driving, he added, because van pool members only have to pay for gas.
"I think that the idea of mass transportation has got to be our new paradigm, our new way of thinking, for a number of reasons, both environmental and economical," he said.
Heels said he anticipates that many of the people who will participate in van pools will be those who already take public transportation. Van pools should also provide a mass transportation option for people who would find it difficult to take the bus because they live far from routes or are unable to adhere to the bus schedules, Gorman said.
A third initiative will allow bikers to use the showers at Alumni Gymnasium without paying for a gym membership.
Gorman emphasized that the current measures are part of the College's ongoing efforts to ease the burdens on commuters, which includes subsidizing the Upper Valley's Advance Transit bus system.
Joanna Whitcomb, a planner in the College's Office of Planning, Design and Construction, Bill Barr, Facilities, Operations and Management director of Fiscal and Auxiliary Services, and Peter Glenshaw, director of Community Relations, could not be reached for comment by press time.
