Students without access to a car now have the opportunity to rent one through Enterprise’s CarShare.
A Chevy Cruz is available to students for an hourly, daily or overnight rate. As of now, there is a fee of $10 per hour, or $55 per day. Students can also rent the car overnight from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. for $30. Fuel is included in every rate.
The first 200 miles are free and any additional miles after are $0.20 per mile. A daily $2 Pennsylvania Public Transportation Tax is added to each reservation.
Students interested in participating in CarShare must complete a registration form at Enterprise. Students 18 to 20 years old must have a parent fill out the form, but students 21 years and over can register on their own.
Kit Foley, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs, believes Car- Share will be a wonderful service to students, “particularly for our first year students who do not have cars.”
“We were finding out that often students needed to get off campus to appointments or wanted to go off campus when our Student Activities van wasn’t running,” Foley said.
The car will be located for pickup and drop off at the North Gate Lot near MacDowell Hall.
“Students deal directly with the company,” said Foley. “We house the car here but [students] do everything directly through Enterprise.”
Foley said there have been Enterprise representatives on campus to inform students of the new program.
“During check-in for first year students, representatives provided information to parents and students,” said Foley.
She said there are plans to have representatives back on campus to speak to students about the CarShare program and provide more information.
The car works on a system like the school’s ID cards, Foley said.
“Once in the program, students will get a swipe card,” said Foley. “They will then go online and register for the times they want the car for. If available, they can register for that time.”
The swipe card is the most important part because it stores all information and also unlocks the car. Once the car is unlocked, the car key can be obtained from the glove compartment.
“If there is a problem, it’s whoever swiped the card last,” said Foley. “They have documentation of whoever was using it.”
The card stores the user’s information and knows how long the car was rented.
“If [the car] is late, the person has to pay additional money,” said Foley.
There has been a desire to get a CarShare on campus for several years.
“Lehigh University has a very active CarShare program. I have been in contact with them to talk about how their program worked,” said Foley “It worked very well.”
“I think it’s a good option. Hopefully students will utilize it and be responsible with it,” said Foley. “It will be a good service for the students.”
The university has a one-year agreement for CarShare, and the program’s success will determine whether CarShare will continue.
“Hopefully it will take off and students will use it, and it will be seen as something that is helpful to students,” said Foley.
“That’s what it was really designed for, to provide an opportunity for students to be able to have a car available to them.”
There is a possibility that the CarShare will also be available to faculty and staff in the future, but for now the focus is on the students.
Junior physical therapy major Danielle Hesler said she would have signed up for the CarShare service during her first year on campus.
“I would have definitely utilized a service like this if it were available to me freshmen year,” she said.
“There were plenty of times my freshman year when I needed to go to the store to pick some- thing up but I didn’t have a car.”
Hesler said CarShare is a good option for students who are just looking to get away and off campus to do something fun with friends.
“There were other times when I was bored and was looking for something to do,” said Hesler. “Having the option of renting a car to go to the mall or movies would have been nice.”
“I think that freshmen should take advantage of [CarShare],” said Hesler. “I know when I was a freshmen I preferred borrowing my friend’s car rather than be driven around.”
Some students wonder if the program’s fees will stretch students’ pocketbooks. She encour- aged students to try the program.
“I think that the idea is a good one,” said Hesler. “However, as a college student, I don’t know if the prices would work out unless I had a job while I was up here at school.”
“I think the rates all depend on the student,” said Hesler. “I think that the special overnight rate is a very good price and even the $55 per day isn’t a bad price either.”