Zipcar, a company that works to reduce the number of cars on the road while providing a convenient service for students and faculty, is now operating on campus.

Morgan Johnston, transportation demand coordinator for the University, said that the company rents cars by the hour to students and faculty. Zipcar was brought to this campus through the combined efforts of the University, the Mass Transit District and the cities of Urbana and Champaign, in an effort to increase campus sustainability and promote environmental consciousness.

“We have over 40,000 people trying to use the same area,” Johnston said. “We want to provide students with an incentive not to bring their cars to campus.”

University students can rent these cars if they have had their license for two years. The cost to students and faculty is $35 for a one-year registration, Johnston said. Users also must pay eight dollars per hour of use, which covers rental, gas, insurance and parking.

“Everything is self service and fully automated,” said Matthew Malloy, vice president of new market development for Zipcar.

Johnston said people interested in the service need to sign up online at zipcar.com/universities so that Zipcar can run a background check on traffic violations. A key card is then sent to the driver, which can be used to lock and unlock the car. It is necessary to sign up in advance to use the car on a particular day, she added.

“If I didn’t have a car I would definitely be interested,” said Andrew Sim, senior in LAS. “This seems like something that students should know about.”

There will be six Zipcars available for use; two will be located near the Union, in downtown Champaign and in downtown Urbana. The cars are available on a first come first-served basis.

Johnston said that the company also trains people to save energy by grouping several small trips into one.

“If you have a car at home and you have to go somewhere a mile or less away, you are going to just take your car, even though it would be just as easy to take the bus or walk,” Johnston said. “When you use Zipcar you combine all your stops into one trip and only use it for trips that would be hard to make using other modes of transportation.”

Malloy said that Zipcar was started when the original founders decided they wanted to change the way Americans saw car ownership.

When students and faculty who had used the system voiced their approval, Zipcar started to reach out to colleges.

“What is so great is that we are working with the school and the city,” Malloy said.