Zipcar / Zimride Expand Sharing Application

Car sharing provider Zipcar and social online ride sharing community Zimride launched an integrated car and ride sharing application on five new campuses at last week’s CES event. The new campuses include the UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maryland and George Mason University.

The integrated Zipcar-Zimride application allows members to share a ride by posting the date, time and destination of the trip to the Zimride campus community. Moreover, if integrated into their overall transportation demand management (TDM) programs will help reduce congestion, parking demand and CO2 emissions.

"The new generation of students, which Zipcar refers to as 'Generation Z', is open to more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways to get around campus, as well as the notion of never owning a car," said Scott Griffith, Chairman and CEO of Zipcar. "The net impact of the integrated Zipcar-Zimride offering is that students, faculty and staff, now have more convenient, smart transportation options and no longer have a need for a personally owned car on campus - setting a precedent for a car-free lifestyle during and post college years."

The Zipcar-Zimride application already is available on 10 campuses across the US, including: UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, California State University - Long Beach, USC, the State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase, Minnesota, Stanford and the University of Michigan.

"Both Zipcar and Zimride have been proven to reduce parking demand, congestion and emissions - key goals of universities and colleges," said John Zimmer, co-founder and COO of Zimride. "These two services balance easy to use modern technology and social interaction to provide fun and efficient solutions for administrators."