Park University and Park Student Government Association are working to implement a car share program through Enterprise.

Through this program, a car would be made available on campus available to rent so residential students and different organizations could get essential living supplies or attend special events off campus.

According to PSGA President Jeremy Barnes, if enough support is shown for the program it will be made available to students, faculty and staff as early as next fall.

According to Jayme Uden, associate dean of students, this program would utilize part of the funds generated by the $50 student activity fee that is paid by Parkville daytime students each semester.

In order for Park to initiate the program, at least 60 people have to sign up.

According to the PSGA proposal, the program requires participants be over 18 years of age, a Park student, faculty or staff member, have a valid license and pay the $35 membership fee. International licenses are also accepted. Gas and insurance are also included with the initial membership.

The membership fee also translates into hours students can use the service. This gives each person who enrolls seven hours of drive time at the start, each hour after that costing five dollars.

Once the program gains enough traction Enterprise will provide a single car, most likely a Ford Focus, to the campus, according to the PSGA proposal.

Once they become a member, students, faculty and staff would be allowed to rent the car for any amount of hours 24 hours a day to run for essentials, other classes at different campus centers or anything else a person might want or need that requires transportation. Overnight rental is also available.

In returning the vehicle there would be a 15-minute grace period past the time of return allowing members plenty of time to return the vehicle.

Signup is done online with several steps to ensure that a driver is qualified for the program.

The $35 membership fee is also due at the time of signup. Participants in the program will receive a “smartcard” allowing members access to the vehicle.

Reserving the car is done online or through the mobile app specifically designed for the service by Enterprise. During the 2013-14 academic year, PSGA worked with OATS to have a bus take students to and from the grocery story every week, but only about eight students took part in that service regularly. The OATS bus was no cost effective, costing around $300 a week.

“Once we offered the OATS bus service and students became reliant upon it I felt that once we took it away we were obligated to provide some sort of service to them,” said Barnes.

“The Enterprise car share program is a good way to do it without running us out of funds each semester.”
According to Uden, Enterprise approached the school about the program and they are now working with the school to determine if the program is sustainable.

A survey has been sent to students, faculty and staff to determine if there is interest in the program.

“It’s a problem every year,” said Uden. “People come to me and say ‘you need to provide transportation’ so it’s something we are always looking at.

“The nearest bus stop is a good five miles away. It’s something that’s a problem for residential students…I applaud Jeremy and the PSGA for trying to come up with a solution to the problem.”