Kaylie Wang is an English freshman and Mustang News opinion columnist. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
Finding a way to get off-campus is difficult and inconvenient for students without cars, especially first-years.
I’ve found Zipcar, despite its flaws, to be the best method of transportation.
Zipcar is a platform that allows anyone to rent cars for any time of the day. Drivers do not have to pay for gas, insurance or maintenance.
Other options like Uber or Lyft are expensive, and public transportation is unreliable due to delays and the stops lengthen the ride. Driving to Costco from campus would take 8 minutes. However, it is a one-hour ride on public transportation, which requires you to get on two separate busses. A one-way trip through Uber cost $18.
Comparatively, the Zipcar price is more worth it because of the time you have with the car; it is only a few dollars more expensive, but you have the time to go to more places than with the bus or rideshare apps. In the past, a two-hour reservation cost $24.59 and a three-hour trip cost $34.59. Trips cost as low as $8.75 an hour. I split the price of the trip with friends who came with me, which made it more affordable.
The annual membership is also discounted for students, faculty, staff and alumni through Cal Poly Zipcar. The regular Zipcar platform charges $90 for the annual membership, and it also requires drivers to be 21 or older. Cal Poly Zipcar costs $25 a year for students and only requires drivers to be 18 or older to have a membership.
You also won’t have to walk far to find the car. Zipcars are conveniently parked at various designated spots on campus, from the Pacheco Way Parking Structure closest to the yakʔitʸutʸu dorm buildings, to streetside near Poly Canyon Village. You can choose to book cars from any location.
There have been some times when I wanted to rent a car for the weekend, but there were none available. I have learned I can’t book a car last-minute, like on Friday or the day of, since cars are usually fully booked on the weekends.
I have also had experiences where Zipcar changed the car pickup location due to some unforeseen issues. I booked a car at the Pacheco Way Parking Structure (just a one minute walk from my dorm in tsɨtkawayu), but instead I had to walk all the way to PCV. It sucks that you can’t just spontaneously book a Zipcar on the weekends or don’t have much control when your reservation is changed, but I still think the trade-off of being able to drive is worth it.
Since coming to college, I have really missed driving. Most notably, I missed the independence that comes with choosing where you want to go and when.
Zipcar allows me to choose to drive to multiple locations within one trip, instead of trying to make it all work with the public transportation system or buying multiple Ubers. This is especially helpful when going to places that you can’t easily get to from public transportation.
In the past, I’ve driven to the Pismo Beach Dunes, taken sunset photos with my best friend and picked up In-N-Out. Our trip took less than three hours. Just getting to the Dunes via public transportation would have taken one hour and 17 minutes, including a 34-minute walk.
Driving down the highway with the windows down, blasting music with your friends is one of the most cherished experiences I missed when leaving my car back home. Looking out the window and seeing Madonna Inn or driving down the 101 and marveling at the ocean makes SLO start to feel more like home.
While Zipcar isn’t the same as having my own car, being able to just hop in and drive whenever I want is pretty close. For now, it’s the best I can get.
For your next weekend excursion, side quest or grocery trip, I would highly recommend using Zipcar to save money and time and have fun with your friends.
Kaylie’s Ten Tips for Zipcar:
- Plan where you want to go ahead of time so you can time your trip appropriately.
- Reserve the car for at least two hours. One hour is cutting it tight, so two gives some wiggle room in case you hit traffic or long checkout lines.
- Give yourself plenty of time to return the car to avoid the late fee. Zipcar will charge a $50 late fee (I was 5 minutes late for two trips and was not charged, but it still causes a lot of stress).
- Book the car in advance, because they are often not available last-minute. Zipcars are very busy on the weekends.
- Before you get into the car, clean the windshields well. It may take you a while to realize the smudges on your windows.
- Check the mirrors and adjust them (if necessary) before driving off. You won’t want to find out that one of your side mirrors is pointing only towards the car door while you’re on the highway, like I did.
- Bring your sunglasses. There is nothing worse than not planning for the sun to be right in your eyes around sunset.
- Before you leave the car, double-check that you didn’t forget any belongings. You don’t want to lose your wallet then find it on the Cal Poly Snapchat story a day later.
- Create a Spotify Blend with your friends so you can listen to everyone’s music taste at the same time. This prevents your friends from fighting over who gets aux.
- Have a shopping list or at least an idea of what you need to get so you don’t waste time at the store.