By Sara Hamilton, Outreach Coordinator, DFA IT
The OSU Motor Pool is a shared vehicle rental and management service that provides transportation for individuals and groups. Based in Corvallis with a large, shared fleet of trucks, passenger vans and sedans, the Motor Pool staff specialize in meeting the vehicle needs of OSU departments state-wide and beyond. By providing accessible transportation options, Motor Pool makes OSU’s mission of extending learning opportunities across the state possible and directly supports OSU’s strategic goals.
Established in 1934 as an agricultural carpool, the service was renamed the OSU Motor Pool in 1970 and centralized to manage all OSU vehicles until the late 1990’s. The group now operates a rental fleet and an opt-in service to manage record keeping, recalls, maintenance, fuel and reserve funds for replacement of vehicles owned by separate OSU units.
Making connections and expanding opportunities to learn
Club and student activity trips drive demand for 12 passenger vans throughout the academic year, with requests increasing even before classes begin. The staff at Motor Pool don’t need a calendar to tell them that fall term is approaching.
The week before fall classes begin – known as zero week – is often sunny and warm. During the nice weather with the doors open, the sound of students gathering in front of Motor Pool drifts into the front office. New on campus, meeting each other for the first time, they will soon hop in vans to visit a nearby field site or outdoor activity.
“Zero weeks are easy to spot because they are exciting,” said Justin Fleming, Motor Pool manager. “There’s a hum of conversation as they get comfortable, and when they return in the vans after spending several hours together at the start of their time at OSU,” Fleming said.
Many of zero week’s group outings are designed to set students up for retention, belonging and success during their time at OSU. Dr. Jack Barth, professor with the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences calls Motor Pool the “gateway to experiential learning.”
After the start of fall term, the passenger vans are in constant motion providing access to course field trips, music group competitions, student org activities. Motor Pool is able to meet the high-demand times of year in fall and spring more efficiently than private rental companies which must maintain fleet sizes that maximize profit. The Motor Pool is considered a service center at OSU and is managed to maximize the service to OSU units on a break-even budget.
During especially high demand weeks in the spring, the OSU vans are often pulling double duty with Motor Pool staff prepared to clean and prep returned vehicles for the next group. As the weather warms up, many OSU researchers ramp up their field activities. Research teams primarily request long-term truck rentals, used to move equipment and technicians to remote locations.
“Even if the group is trying to find last minute transportation at our busiest time of year, we encourage them to submit the reservation request,” Flemming explained. “At the least, we can put together a reservation of smaller vehicles that will get them where they need to go.”
The Motor Pool staff can also watch for vans coming back early or for last-minute cancellations.
“We time our reminders to customers so that they can look at their participant numbers and free up vans that they don’t need for another group,” Fleming said.
Adjusting to meet needs on campus and across the state
Sharing vehicles is more challenging in other OSU locations throughout the state. In Corvallis, the scale makes it easier and less expensive to meet the transportation needs of many departments through a pooled fleet, but in smaller locations, it becomes more expensive or time consuming to share the cost of owning and managing an OSU vehicle.
Motor Pool provides different service levels to help keep the costs affordable and has begun assisting with tracking fuel costs as well.
“A lead researcher or dean shouldn’t have to call multiple places to track down the last oil change or brake pad replacement or on two or three trucks when it’s something we can manage for them more efficiently and give them just one office to call with their questions,” Fleming said.
Navigating the shift to lower-impact vehicles
One major benefit of Motor Pool services is the reduction in drive-alone car trips. Shared vans and cars are a much more efficient and climate-friendly mode of transportation.
Motor Pool is sometimes asked about electrifying their fleet of vehicles, but barriers to electric vehicles have proved challenging so far. Unfortunately, the Corvallis geographic area requires longer travel distances and electric vehicles with the necessary range are not yet available.
Another problem is the time needed to charge batteries between trips. Current charging methods take the vehicle out of service for eight or more hours after staff have checked it back in from the returns line, so more vehicles would be needed to meet demand, leading to additional costs and the need for more parking. Motor Pool management is monitoring developments in the industry and on the lookout for types of electric vehicles that don’t yet exist (like 12 passenger vans).
For now, Motor Pool believes hybrid vehicles are their best option. Hybrid vehicles reduce fuel consumption while serving the most common trips to Portland, Eugene and Newport.
“The Prius (hybrid sedan) is the direction we need to go for now,” Fleming said.
Getting OSU from here to all the way out there
The OSU Motor Pool provides a critical service for students and staff and enabling the type of experiential, real-world learning that the university is widely known for. Motor Pool staff are full of stories about interesting transport requests – unusual scientific instrument cargo or collections of rocks from all over the continent, for example. By solving the problem of getting from here to there, Motor Pool services bridge the gap between campus and the research and learning environments across Oregon.
