HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i at Manoa will provide a car-sharing service to its staff, faculty, and students for university business and for personal use. The university is partnering with Enterprise’s WeCar service in an effort to reduce costs.

“The University is also anticipating significant cost-savings on the repair and maintenance of the State-owned fleet, as the current sedans are eventually replaced by this third-party car sharing,” said Commuter and Fleet Services Manager Raymond Shito. “We look forward to expanding the WeCar pool as institution demand grows.”

According to the university, the process for reserving, accessing, and returning vehicles is automated. Program members receive a swipe key that gives them access to a reserved vehicle. The ignition key for each vehicle is stored in its glove box. The rental rate for the program is $10 to $12 per hour and includes 200 free miles, fuel, maintenance, a campus parking spot and damage/liability protection. The program waives fees for business use of the vehicles as part of the agreement.

Other recently announced public-sector fleet car sharing partnerships include the City of Houston and the City of Loveland, Colo.

At the 2012 Green Fleet Conference, one of the panels will cover car sharing and will be given by Kelly Reagan from the City of Columbus,.