In January 2009, Duke welcomed Zipcar, a car-sharing service, to its campus.
Four self-service vehicles are available for rent on Duke's West Campus - two hybrid Priuses and two Toyota Matrixes.
To join Zipcar, faculty, staff, and students pay a $35 registration fee that is applied as a credit toward reservations in the first month. The cost to reserve a car is $8 per hour or $66 per day. Fuel, maintenance and insurance are included. Reservations are accepted for a 1 hour minimum, up to a maximum of four days. All memberships, reservations and payments are administered and managed by Zipcar.
The effort to bring Zipcar to Duke gained speed last year when members of Duke Student Government and Duke Environmental Alliance approached Zipcar and Kemel W. Dawkins, vice president for campus services.
The cars, which are available to all employees and students who are 18 or older and meet eligibility requirements, are parked in specially marked spaces in front of the Duke Chapel on Chapel Drive and at the surface lot by the Bryan Center parking garage.
Members age 18 to 20 can only reserve Zipcars assigned to the Duke campus; members 21 and older also have access to Zipcar's network of more than 5,500 vehicles throughout North America and the United Kingdom.
