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BY ROSARIO PAZ

In print | Published September 6, 2007

For students who need a car in a pinch and do not have access to one, Earthlust has recently announced that PhillyCarShare has made new plans to provide a car for residents in the Swarthmore College and borough area.

PhillyCarShare is a non-profit organization that attempts to reduce harmful automobile emissions by providing their members with a 24-hour, pay-by-the-hour car-sharing service.

Clayton Lane, a PhillyCarShare representative, said the mission of the organization is “to get cars off the road and encourage people to walk, bike, take transit more … and it tends to work well for students,” Lane said. “We realize that people need a car every now and then, especially if you need to leave campus. We are trying to provide an alternative that makes it easy to [do so].”

Earthlust, a student group on campus that addresses environmental issues, decided to work with PhillyCarShare in order to introduce this service to Swarthmore students because it is convenient and benefits the environment.

Additionally, Earthlust thought the service would appeal to students, especially considering the current limitations and the problems these restrictions pose for students with cars on campus.

“According to PhillyCarShare, one car should be able to support 30-50 members that sign up,” said Earthlust member JJ England ‘09, one of the main student proponents of the PhillyCarShare service. “If we get this implemented properly, we expect that some students may not feel the need to bring their cars to campus … [With] such a high demand for parking spots and so few of them available, I thought this would be a great solution,” England said. "It’s very environmentally friendly. It allows [for] efficient use of vehicles … [and for] fewer cars to be on campus, which allows for fewer paved areas and more green areas to be made available."

PhillyCarShare services are accessible to anyone 18 years or older with a valid license.

To register, drivers must submit credit card or debit card information to the PhillyCarShare Web site, and will be charged an hourly rate of $5.90.

New members are mailed an electronic key that gives them access to any of the vehicles available in their local “pod,” a specialized PhillyCarShare parking lot. A wide variety of cars are made available by the service.

Cars can range from the Toyota Prius, a hybrid gas-electric vehicle, to mini-Coopers, pick-up trucks, beetle convertibles, BMWs and mini-vans.

“When you get a car, you can choose exactly what car you want at that time,” Lane said. “You get a bill once a month … showing you all your trips and all the costs. We just provide a single price to make it easy,” he said.

“Everybody saves money in the process. When somebody owns a car, it’s costing them 15 to 20 dollars to drive the car,” Lane said. “With car-sharing, you can save a lot of money for driving less and people do and that’s why it’s good for the environment.” Additionally, the service pays for fuel and provides varying insurance options for members.

Fuel is purchased by using PhillyCarShare’s fuel card, located in the glove compartment of each car.

As for car insurance, “before you turn 21, PhillyCarShare will augment your existing, basic insurance to one million dollar coverage,” England said. “After you turn 21, PhillyCarShare will include insurance.”

Swarthmore iis the only location where PhillyCarShare has extended to beyond the Philadelphia metropolitan area. PhillyCarShare has collaborated with not only businesses and large communities, but also with various colleges and universities located around the Philadelphia area, including University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Bryn Mawr College.

According to the PhillyCarShare Web site, the services are provided in recognition of the financial load that already burdens college students and the practicality it provides those in need of a road trip, a grocery run or a furniture haul whenever the need arises.

“A lot of the students genuinely need to use their cars on a regular basis, but a good number just use them on an occasional basis,” England said. “For [that] kind of [student], [PhillyCarService] is so much more cost-effective.”

“I think it would be a good idea because it would decrease parking issues, [and] also let people who need it have cars a couple [of] times a semester,” Sara Daley ’10 said.

Daley is a Philadelphia resident, where the organization is based. “I’m from Philadelphia, so I know about PhillyCarShare. It’s becoming bigger and bigger. It’s [for] young professionals that live in the city and have jobs in the city but need to drive somewhere for the weekend. It’s a little steep for college students. It makes sense for people who are working, but it’s a little much for us.”

A local PhillyCarShare pod in the vicinity of the Philly train station should be in the works during this fall. For now, Earthlust and PhillyCarShare are working together to develop plans for this off-campus pod, which requires a certain number of students to sign up and commit to the service. Eventually, both organizations hope to work toward creating an on-campus pod as well.

“We needed to get a certain threshold of members signed up in order to show PhillyCarShare that there is [a] demand for this service [at] Swarthmore,” England said. “We met this goal over the summer. This then allowed PhillyCar-Share to work with the town and the college in order to locate a suitable spot for the new Swarthmore pod. We’re eventually hoping to get enough students signed up to have a pod on campus. That’s where we’d really like to go with this.”

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