By Grace Hitzeman

Now, the wide world of rural Ohio is accessible even to those Kenyon students without their own car. U Car Share will now provide a Ford Focus or a Nissan Cube for trips to Mount Vernon or Columbus.

“Even though we are reducing those hours for the shuttle, which is free, this could be a good alternative where people can still go on a Monday, or Sunday, or Tuesday, or any day of the week,” Associate Dean of Students Tacci Smith said.

Students are charged $4.95 an hour to rent a car, which includes gas, mileage and insurance. The program also requires a membership, the fee for which is discounted from $19.95 to $15.00 from now until November. Students that register will also receive $25 in driving credits by entering the code “Kenyon” during online registration. Students can book these cars months in advance or as little as a couple of hours ahead of time, as long as they have already registered with the company. Students from California and other states with stricter driver’s license record laws should allow more time than the typically two to three days for approval.

Once registered, students go online to select the desired car and time. When booking a car, students should keep in mind that the Nissan Cube seats five people, and the Ford Focus seats four. The cars are unavailable between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. The rental comes with insurance on the car, but due to insurance laws, renters must also be insured and have their insurance information to rent a car.

The cars are kept in the Watson lot rather than at a rental office “It’s all done by satellite,” Smith said. The key is permanently attached to the inside of the car. When a student has booked the car for a specific time slot, the student is sent a security code that will unlock the car. The security code is good only for the time that the student has booked the car.

“The College makes no money off of this service,” Smith said. As such, the such the service remains affordable for students. If students are interested in this service or have more questions, they can consult the website, www.ucarshare.com.

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