Rice Students Rent Cars by the Hour

It’s a car rental service with a twist, offering cars by the hour to Rice University students.

This Website of the Day is called “Zipcar.” The service offers fuel friendly vehicles in dozens of cities across the country.

If you’re going on a trip or have a city that you frequently visit, you can check car availability by typing in the city name on the upper left side of the website. It will show you the car locations on a Google Map. On one street corner, you might find a Prius. A few blocks away, you’ll find a BMW.

To use the service, you have to sign up as a member. If you’re an occasional driver, it’s about $50/year plus $7 to 10 an hour, depending on the car you rent.

Right now, the service is very limited in Houston and only available to Rice University students and faculty. In other towns, however, hundreds of cars are available to the public.

-- Visit the website: http://www.zipcar.com