<p>Hi - new the board. My D is considering UA as one of her choices for fall '13. We are over in TX so there will be no quick weekend drives home. </p>
<p>We’re considering not taking a car at all. Can anyone give insight on getting around without one? I’ve seen a bunch of posts on airport shuttles and campus buses. Just wondering how it might impact getting off campus. Also wondering what % of kids don’t bring cars. I’m guessing they don’t want kids driving across campus for classes in there cars anyway.</p>
<p>txdad- my son is freshman, and does not have a car. I have only been on campus twice, but I have no idea how you would really get across campus faster in a car than by foot or on a bike anyway. And parking would be impossible, since the parking is all reserved. </p>
<p>The main off campus area, The Strip, is right at the edge of campus. Lots of shops, food, and activity. A great little college town. I understand that there are a number of trips to Target and the mall during the first week, then on Sundays there are shuttles there too.</p>
<p>So I do not think your D would be handicapped in anyway by not having a car.</p>
<p>Also, they do have Zip car rentals if there is really something she wants to do off campus.</p>
<p>Hi txdad. We are from TX also. My D is a brand new freshman on campus so we don’t have much experience with this, but she did not take her car. I signed her up for the zipcar. Also, the shuttle system seems very convenient and reliable. We are hoping to catch rides to the airport with friends but will use the airport shuttle if necessary.</p>
<p>My daughter is an in-state sophomore and she will be living on campus without a car. The shuttle goes to the Mid-town Village, the University Mall, and Target every Sunday. </p>
<p>With D being an art student she wishes it would go to Michaels or Wal-Mart so she could get some supplies. When she needed building type materials she would ride the bus to the Target stop and then walk across the parking lots to go to Home Depot. </p>
<p>She considered buying a car this summer to take, but decided the “convenience” wasn’t worth the $$$$… :)</p>
<p>We are from Arizona. Daughter did not take her car. We told her that after she has been there a few months, if she just can’t live without her car, we will drive it out there for her. Everyone we talked to prior to moving her in said a car was not necessary. We will see.</p>
<p>We have been on campus a few times touring with our D’13 and I would that your D would be fine without a car, I can’t imagine she would use it all on campus and there are plenty of options available for campus transportation. That being said our D will take her car, I just don’t see a reason for her not to take it…especially since she can’t use zip car at 17.</p>
<p>It’s really doable since Bama has a fairly flat, compact campus. We let S take his car down second semester though(H drove with him).He had some minor health issues & had to go to the health center, some specialists, drug stores, etc. quite frequently. Plus the Waffle House was not yet on the Strip & he generally has second dinner around 11 pm, ha ha.</p>
<p>We had planned to bring D’s bike but ran out of room in our car. So we decided to rent from Bamabikes. However, they are all rented out. We will probably bring her bike at Parent Weekend.</p>
<p>I think most large universities are designed so that one doesn’t really need a car to get around. A number of them you can’t even have a car on campus freshman year. UA seems the same - most of what they need can probably be found on The Strip and there are buses for off campus trips. A parking permit is only good for parking in the residential areas and, I believe, around the rec center.</p>
<p>That said, our freshman son did take his car down when we drove down last weekend. It was kind of like Longsx3 said - there was really no reason for him not to take it down there (well, except for the $500 annual savings in car insurance). With the exception of Xmas break, he is not going to be home for any extended period of time for the next 8 months - and he can easily use our cars over the holidays. </p>
<p>Honestly, him taking the car down was probably more to make me feel better than anything else - he is 12-13 hours from home and we won’t be down there that frequently. I kind of wanted him to have transportation with us being so far away. When my older son was at school (smaller school and more isolated) he used his car frequently - Verizon store for phone issues, Best Buy for computer problems, physical therapy for a sports injury, etc… </p>
<p>So far my son says he hasn’t used the car yet - it is still parked where we parked it last Saturday. He has been riding his bike when not at OA. He does plan on using the car this weekend to replenish his water bottle supply and go to the Off Campus bookstore. Since he works out daily, I thought he might use it to drive to the rec center (it seems so far away to me…) but he pointed out that it didn’t make much sense to DRIVE to work out. It does to me.</p>
<p>txdad13: My son is a senior this year. We are from Virginia. He has never had a car. Every year, his roommates had cars. He knows plenty of guys in his fraternity with cars. He has lots and lots of friends with cars. So it really has not been something that he has missed. He always seems to get a ride to Target, the Mall, Birmingham, etc.</p>
<p>Kidts do not drive their cars to each class. The commuters park, and leave their cars in that spot for the day.</p>
<p>Residential students who have cars face the same issue. Their parking pass is for a residential lot, so they can’t drive to class and just park in the nearest lot. It seems to me that the lots nearest academic bldgs are often for faculty anyway. </p>
<p>Residential students will find that their cars sit for days/weeks. </p>
<p>Kids either walk to each class or take the Crimson Ride.</p>
<p>I didn’t have a car freshmen year, and I actually found it to be a huge inconvenience. It’s doable, but it is definitely frustrating to have to rely on friends or roommates with busy lives of their own for rides.</p>
<p>For example, I’m quite a procrastinator, and the Supe Store closes pretty early, so a lot of times I would realize after it was closed that I needed a certain supply for a school assignment, and I’d have to try to find a ride to Target. I also am not a fan of much of the food on campus or on the strip, and the delivery options are limited, so I really disliked not being able to drive other places to get food. Grocery shopping and then having to walk back to campus or wait for a bus with a bunch of heavy groceries is also not fun.</p>
<p>A car is definitely not necessary by any means, but if you trust your daughter to use one responsibly and it’s a financially reasonable option for you, I would at least consider it.</p>