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| Dave Londres |
In September of this year, RIT entered a
contract with Flexcar, a company providing
easy car rentals. However, after
a few months of business, problems
popped up in the program. Cars were
mysteriously “unavailable” at all hours
of the day, but still sitting in the parking lots.
After some deliberation, on October 30th, Flexcar
executives announced a merger with a competitor,
Zipcar. This seemingly minor change caused
a considerable loss of jobs for employees working
in Flexcar’s Seattle-based headquarters, as
well as the creation of an even greater inconvenience
for those accustomed to Flexcar, many of
whom had to adjust their service plans.
Applicants to Flexcar were required to provide a
valid driver’s license and be at least 18 years of
age. Zipcar, on the other hand, requires that its
members be at least 21 to join. Cars were able
to be picked up by RIT students at predetermined
locations by swiping their “flexcards” on
the electronic activation mechanisms located
on the dashboards of every vehicle. After the
driver’s identity was recognized, they were free
to drive as they pleased.
John G. Zink, Interim Assistant Vice President
stated, “We wanted to provide this service for
students for them to take advantage of Flexcar.
This was very good to work with…offering over
one million dollars in accident coverage.”
Zink continued, “After Flexcar became Zipcar,
they no longer honored the previous agreement.
Zipcar expected more money and offered
much less accident coverage. [Zipcar provides
$300,000 in accident protection.] They were simply
offering unacceptable terms. We also didn’t
want to originally use Zipcar, because we knew
Flexcar offered better terms. I can assure you
that these numbers indicate a bad deal. They
were not providing the proper protection for
students.” However, RIT did not end relations
with Zipcar. “We wouldn’t care to kill something
which we ourselves spent so much time committing
to getting on campus,” said Zink.
The reaction to removing Flexcar has resulted in
varied opinions. Industrial Design student Julie
Zempke said, “I’m a committee adviser for FYE,
and one day, we were talking about first year
students, the concept [of Flexcar] is great and
age becomes a problem for students who want
to get off campus. If it were here when I was a
freshman, I would definitely use it.” Ken Krug,
a Software Engineering major, agreed: “This is
an appealing program for parents, who would
be smart in signing up. However, Flexcar had
its detractors as well. Rebecca Strauss said, “I
thought about using it, but I would break even. I
also don’t think it’s affordable. I’d prefer to have
more extensive bus services.”
Zink did not rule out changing services. He said,
“One thing I will explore, though, is to reach out
to other options.”
