Two Electric Cars Added to City-College Fleet for Resident, Student Rental

Cal Ransom Alexa Stevens News Editors

The Office of Environmental Sustainability will be making two new electric vehicles available to students and community members on Monday. The City of Oberlin has offered two vehicles for use by City residents and College students since April 1, 2021. During the first year, 280 students and 59 residents used the electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles have been available at charging stations at the Oberlin City Hall parking lot downtown and the George A.Abram Memorial Pavilion in the southeast corner of the City.

According to OES Sustainable Materials Management Intern Naomi Friedman, the new vehicles will be available at charging stations in the Grey Gables parking lot northwest of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies.

“My understanding is that the first two are purchased by the

City and the second two are purchased by the College, but they’re functioning as if they’re all through the same system,” Friedman said. “So there isn’t, as a user, a separation between the two.”

Friedman hopes that the vehicles will be used by both College students and City residents.

“I think the hope with having some more on campus is that it is more accessible for everyone so you don’t have to walk as far,” Friedman said.

Prior to the addition of the new vehicles, it was often difficult for some who hoped to rent cars to do so.

“I’ve noticed people that have been trying to rent them and they’ve been taken,” Friedman said. “So [the] more cars that they have, the more people that can use them at once, which is very useful. You can rent them ahead of time, but sometimes if it’s more last minute then it can be harder.”

However, availability of vehicles is not the only barrier to use. Jules Lieberman, a second-year College student, said that they had considered using the electric vehicles, but they didn’t have a clean driving record and found the vehicles too expensive to use.

“I wish instead there were more public transportation available here,” Lieberman said. “I wish the College provided shuttles more regularly, and I wish they were free. If I used the electric vehicles, I definitely would have needed friends to augment the price somehow, by splitting through Venmo or something.”

Beyond cost and driving record, users also must have had their driver’s licenses for at least two years.

Although the vehicles may not be accessible to everyone, Friedman believes they offer a good solution to some.

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Haar said. “Therefore, we can use social media and other platforms to invite people who visit ALDI to come downtown — only a short distance away — to visit our other stores and dine in our restaurants.”

Senior Director of Oberlin Shansi Ted Samuel has been shopping at ALDI for decades and, prior to the Oberlin location’s grand opening, carpooled to Amherst for his shopping. He is excited by the availability of avocados for $0.49, noting that this price point is much cheaper than other places nearby. As an Oberlin resident, he is glad for the convenient store location — but noted that people without cars may have difficulties getting there.

“I am lucky to have a car,” Samuel wrote in an email to the Review. “I feel for people who can’t get to the new ALDI because it’s fairly inaccessible by foot or bicycle.”

The City recognizes this inaccessibility concern and is currently working to develop a solution. Last year, City Council allocated $717,566 to the Public Works Department to develop, design, and construct a means for residents to walk or bike to the shopping center. The project, “State Route 58 South — Active Transportation Improvements,” is currently in contract negotiations with Toole Design Group.

The contract would require the firm to navigate zoning laws — a matter that is complicated by much of the development existing outside City limits. It would also require that the firm find opportunities for grants to subsidize the development cost, research, propose, and design options for safe pedestrian and bicycle access — among various other tasks once the construction begins. Public Works Director Jeff Baumann expects the first phase, “Alternatives Analysis,” to begin in March and construction on the project to start in 2024.

“We don’t know that the best solution is to essentially just build a sidewalk on the east side of [State

“If you have a few little appointments outside of Oberlin, I think it’s a really great option versus having to have a friend always drive you,” Friedman said. CONSERVATORY

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