Access to hybrid community automobiles is set to expand for students over the age of 21, as UW-Madison becomes the second university in the Midwest to offer car-sharing services.
UW-Madison Transportation Services representatives stood at Library Mall Tuesday alongside a hybrid Toyota Prius to unveil its latest alternative transportation partnership project with Community Car, a rental agency that allows members to reserve a car on a daily or hourly basis and return it at their convenience.
UW-Madison Transportation plans to obtain 10 communal Toyota hybrids over the course of five years to accommodate UW-Madison students and staff.
\This is a way, once you get to campus, we can help service you by saying, 'OK, you need to go off for lunch hour for a doctor's appointment or take your kid to a doctor, you can now do that without using mass transit or your own vehicle,'"" said Lance Lunsway, director of UW-Madison transportation services.
With a gift of two new Prius hybrids from Smart Toyota, Community Car is able to offer automobiles??-strategically placed around Madison-for an efficient means of transportation, said Amanda White, executive director of Community Car.
""Gas, full-coverage insurance, car washes-everything is included,"" White said. ""So members don't have to worry about a thing. They just make a reservation online, go to the car, grab the keys out of a lock box and get in and go.""
Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, said that the available cars would enable her to get rid of her current car and rely solely on Community Car and the public transportation system for intra-city travel.
""Most of the time my car sits in the driveway anyway and I bike, walk and take the bus,"" Webber said. She added that when her car ""dies"" she would not replace it, but use Community Car instead.
Another reason for adding the hybrid dimension to the campus transit system is to support the goal of protecting the environment.
""One of the main things that we've talked about in the master plan is sustainability and the environment,"" Lunsway said. ""This is just the start of what we'd like to do ... we'd like to see more of our [university] fleet go into the hybrid or possibly even fully electric type.""
The partnership is currently working to obtain governmental insurance subsidies that would enable 18-year-olds to utilize the cars, Lunsway said.
