Last month there were seven Zipcars in Santa Cruz. Now there are 13. The service, which allows members to rent a car cheaply on an hourly basis, is already having an impact, reducing the amount that people drive locally, while eliminating the costs and pressures of owning a vehicle.
Zipcar is popular not only among students—its first Santa Cruz presence was at UCSC—but even among established residents, who do not want to deal with all of the hassles that owning a car entails. Its most prominent member is probably Mayor Mike Rotkin, who has not owned a car in years (two decades, to be exact). He claims that it is cheaper than renting a car, which he often does when he has to get to the San Jose airport. The car costs $8 an hour or $66 per day, and this includes gas, insurance and roadside assistance.
Zipcar’s partnership with the city was made possible with a grant from the Monterey Bay Area Unified Air Pollution Control District to fund marketing. Local residents must be 21 to use the service, though Zipcar has a special arrangement with UCSC students, who can use the cars starting at age 18. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
