The university announced last Monday that Zipcar will not resume operations on Creighton’s campus this year and will close the program for the foreseeable future.

According to the announcement, although there is a possibility that the service will resume for the 2022-23 academic year, Zipcar’s relationship with Creighton has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pan[1]demic.

Assistant Vice President of Public Safety Michael Reiner commented on the current situation.

“They had already suspended services when the pandemic started because they were unable to ensure the vehicles would be sanitized between rentals,” Reiner said.

“When [Zipcar] notified the university on April 9 of the closure of their operations, they cited the pandemic and a computer chip shortage, saying they were unable to service their vehicles in many cities and universities,” Reiner said.

For some students who do not have cars on campus, the suspension of Zipcar has proven to be challenging.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Eva Brucciani said not having access to a car is difficult.

“I have relied pretty heavily on the Zipcar services being a freshman without a car,” Brucciani said.

“It definitely saddens me to hear that the Zipcar operations are being suspended. It was really convenient to use the Zipcars for trips to the store, restaurants, etc.,” she said.

Haley Gilbertson, a senior in the Heider College of Business, also talked about her prior experience with Zipcar.

“I think that Zipcars are a great resource for those students on campus who don’t have a car in Omaha,” she said. “While they may be a little bit expensive to use, freshman year I used them to go grocery shopping all the time and it was really easy.”

“I have a car on campus now but it’s kind of sad to hear that they are removing Zip[1]cars; it takes away a lot of opportunities for those students who aren’t able to have a vehicle on campus,” Gilbertson said.