How does your kid get around?

So before my daughter went off to College, my wife and I agreed that she would not need a car for her first and second semester. We decided this because the cost of parking was outrageous, a lot of the places that our daughter needs to get to are within walking distance, her dorm is on campus and there are bus routes everywhere. However, my wife and I both got some heat this weekend because our daughter needed to get some documents bound before turning them in and the closest place that could do so was miles away. Also, this isn’t the first time we have got burnt for our stance on no car for Freshman year. So a question to you all, what does your student use to get around campus - we got our daughter a bike, but what about even when a bike ride to where they need to be would be outrageous. We have been looking into Uber and rental cars but that doesn’t sound very sustainable. Does your student use zipcar? A shuttle? Carpool? Borrow their friends? How do you get around this without spending an arm and a leg? We are looking into zipcar but aren’t really sure how it works and whether it is going to be easy on the billfold. Share your thoughts, please!

My kids have never had cars and they make it work. Combo of bikes, zipcar type, users or taxis, public transportation, occasional favor from friend in exchange for some $ or food. It can be done.

Not sure why you think Uber is not sustainable? For occasional use, DD loves it, esp when she goes off campus with a group and they share the cost.

I phrased that wrong - the issues with uber and lyft for my daughter isn’t totally money related, but that she is unable to get one quickly because of the high traffic of use near campus. She complains a lot to us that she has to wait 30 minutes to an hour before one is available.

Our kids primarily use the bus system on campus to get around town. Next, Uber or Lyft, or find a friend with a car, and once, the older one used a ZipCar.

My advice about the wait would be “plan ahead.” But then my children have accused me of being unsympathetic. Oh well.

We also did the no car freshman year thing. It was fine, even in places with lousy public transportation on no uber.

“She complains a lot to us that she has to wait 30 minutes to an hour before one is available.”
Thinking and planning ahead would be a good skill then. Not everything has to be instantaneous. Back in our day, we didn’t even have zip cars and uber, yet somehow we managed. No offense intended, but it feels like your daughter is dong a “poor me” job on you. Plenty of college kids manage just fine without cars on campus.

my D is at a pretty secluded school. Uber is hard to come by. She relies on friends to go off campus or to catch a train to go downtown. She will be taking her car next year. my S took his car his soph year too and is very happy with it there; and comes home once in awhile to visit.

D has a car at school but she has to walk almost 30 minutes to get to it because parking is very tight so for most things she uses the school shuttle, walks or rides her bike.

My D’s school has a nice shuttle service. She called me from the shuttle the other day on her way to Target. It hits Target, a nearby shopping center, Walgreens and a big mall. She also has lots of friends with cars if she’s in a bind. We will NOT be getting a car from us.

School has a shuttle she somehow does not use so she walks. She uses public transportation or Uber to get to destinations outside the campus. She likes to walk to any destination under 2 miles.

My daughter got a car when she was 16 and she took it to college from the very beginning of freshman year. It was a car driven solely by her, so we weren’t sacrificing a family vehicle. Having the car was more of a “want” than a “need,” as she could have gotten to most of the places she needed to go without one, and when she lived on campus she walked to class. However, there were definitely things she was able to do and places she was able to go that would have been impossible without a car. She took a fine arts class that required the students to get to events that were a distance from campus, and another class that had extra credit opportunities that took place a few miles away. The University bus system didn’t travel to those places. She was able to rent kayaks from the school Rec Center and get them to the river because she had a car. She used her car to get to the golf course and the disk golf course.She didn’t have to bum rides to the grocery store and Target from friends. She could shop at the mall in the large city that was an hour away. She also used the car to drive herself to and from school (12 hours away) at the beginning and end of the school year, and it enabled her to move in and out without assistance from us. FWIW, there was no Uber in the city where her college was for her 4 years of undergrad. Also, a parking permit at her college was a quarter of the cost of parking at her high school (a sad commentary on the high school, not a bargain at the college). Frankly, a lot of the students at D’s school who don’t have cars survive on the kindness of others who give them rides. My daughter is not one who is comfortable asking people for things, so she would not have done well if she needed to bum rides a lot.

What kind of documents were they and why did they have to be bound? I’m surprised the college would require students to submit something in a form that can only be obtained at a location not readily accessible to campus.

A bus seems fine. Where is she going to go that she needs a car? I wouldn’t plan on borrowing a car. If you buy one for your daughter, will you allow her to loan it to her friends?

What school is this where all, or even most, kids have cars? Borrow one of those.

My D did not have her car freshman or sophomore year. She used a combination of the school shuttle, rides from friends, and a cab/uber when it was necessary to get off campus. There were no zipcars on/near her campus or that would have been another good option.

And please don’t ever feel “burnt” by your decision not to allow your D to have a car freshman year. A college student living on campus and having a car is a luxury, not a necessity. Part of going to college is figuring things out so if your D has to find a way to get documents bound or anything else done off campus, I’d just chalk that up to the learning process.

I never had a car in college and never borrowed my friends’ cars because, well, we just didn’t do that. I did have a bike, but I mostly walked. And yes, some places (like where I lived) were 30 minute walks from the end of campus where I had my classes.

My kids don’t have cars. One lives in a sorority on campus (actually closer to things than the dorms were) and she has friends with cars for the occasional trip to Wal-mart, and she usually could find a ride to hockey but did have to walk once or twice, with her bag, in the cold. The other lived on campus as a sophomore and picked her junior/senior housing carefully (very close to campus). She has to get a ride to practice every morning, so pays her roommates for a ride. She pays people to take her to the airport when needed. Neither of their schools has zip cars or uber, but they make it work.

I’d think a $10 uber ride/taxi ride would be a lot cheaper than having a car on campus for trips once a month.

Uber can be scheduled for a certain time.

I know this was not your question but I would not tolerate having my kid ‘burn’ me because I declined to provide something optional that would cost me more money. If they did, they would probably lose something in turn. One of my non-negotiables is that they have to appreciate what they already have (which is a lot).

So much depends on the campus and city.

U of Wisconsin (Madison) is a place where there is very little on campus parking- commuters get a distant parking lot. Off campus students often live in one of many walking distance to campus places (this would include the few Greek houses). Cars are definitely discouraged! There is a campus bus system and bikes can be used- if you don’t mind hills and winter. City buses as well. Most action is on/near the campus so not a problem.

I have seen other campuses where there are many parking lots and also a lot of parking near the dorms. Different campus cultures.

I really don’t think most kids need cars on campus. Campus is set up for not needing it. I went 4 years without one. The expense and the risk is not worth the occasional need. Our kids have friends, uber, taxi and bus. I would venture to guess that the binder issue was lack of planning ahead.

@ATutt74 I am probably a rotten parent, but I wouldn’t be very sympathetic to that. Needing it should be fairly rare and an occasional wait is not really a big whoop.