MSU considers implementing car-sharing program in E.L.

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On some mornings, David Tucker beats the sun out of bed.

With the economy erasing his ability to afford the $180 parking permit for the F Lot behind Trowbridge Road, the media arts and technology junior hides his car at various campus locations as if his automobile was contraband.

Soon enough, people such as Tucker might not need to bring their cars to campus as MSU considers implementing a car-share program in East Lansing.

The university discussed alternative transportation in a meeting Friday with select administration and students, said MSU campus planner Stephen Troost.

He said the university intends to bring five cars to campus that students could use for an hourly fee in efforts to reduce single-occupancy car rides, therefore promoting sustainability. If data shows improvements, more cars would be commissioned.

“It’s like that commercial I see that we’ve always been green, so we have to make sure we actually are,” Troost said. “It will probably take us a good part of that first half of the year to get everything set. Nothing happens quickly in a big place like this.”

Eric Jorgenson, an economics and business junior, sees car-sharing as a way to give students in mass transit-dependent places such as Chandler Crossings and residence halls another option.

“I think it would be — whether most people or not realize it — a step forward for Michigan State and East Lansing,” Jorgenson said. “It would give us more business and awareness about what’s going on. It would be a big step in tying the university to the community around it.”

Noting MSU’s 47,000 students, Tucker is worried about waiting times for each car, adding that many students already use the Capital Area Transportation Authority.

Still, car-sharing has worked at other schools, with the closest being the University of Michigan’s 19-car fleet in Ann Arbor.

Reaching popular off-campus destinations by public transportation requires time for travel many students don’t possess, and Jorgenson said car-sharing could help eliminate headaches.

“(Grocery shopping) was a big half-day ordeal to wait for the bus, get on the bus, shop, carry all the stuff back and then usually walk back to your dorm from wherever the bus stop was,” he said of living in a residence hall.

Troost said Zipcar — the company U-M uses — is appealing because there is little financial responsibility to the university. Jorgenson said Zipcar’s cost per hour — which can hit $12 — encourages carpools. Zipcar’s arsenal includes hybrid and more gasoline-efficient models, further shrinking East Lansing’s carbon footprint. Zipcar also comes with car insurance and 180 miles of prepaid gas per day, which are expenses many college students struggle to afford.

Mark Grebner, a political consultant with East Lansing-based Practical Political Consulting Inc., has been an advocate of public transportation in East Lansing for decades. He attempted to bring public transportation to the table when MSU went through a planning process in 1985, but dialogue focused on accommodating cars. But in 2010, times have changed.

“Today it’s 180-degrees opposite. The campus actually feels getting cars out of center of campus is the goal,” Grebner said. “You can’t make this campus work if everyone drives everywhere.”

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