College students at three North Texas universities are embracing a new way of getting around.
The University of Texas at Dallas was the first in the Metroplex to strike a relationship with car-sharing company ZipCar.
The online rental company charges members about $7 per hour to rent a car.
Six cars are parked on the UTD campus, where about 60 percent of the student body commutes, for students and the community to rent.
"It's incredibly convenient," said UTD junior Meaghan Berry, who uses the cars for errands.
Berry said ZipCar was helping her with class in an unforeseen way.
"It's incredibly convenient," she said. "I actually have a class where we are going to a school to look at how kids learn to read, and that's all the way up in McKinney. There is no way I can take a bus all the way up to McKinney."
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ZipCar seems to be breaking into the Texas market by starting on university campuses before expanding into actual cities. Only five Texas cities have ZipCar, and all of those markets have campuses.
Members can rent cars at UTD in Richardson, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
ZipCar vehicles are also available at the University of Texas at Austin, Baylor University in Waco and Rice University in Houston.
ZipCar has 250 relationships with universities throughout North America.
