Oberlin College takes pride in being a pedestrian friendly campus and encourages its students, and local faculty and staff, to leave their cars, motorbikes, SUVs, and other motorized transportation at home. Oberlin recommends as many campus members as possible to walk or ride a bike to campus.
It’s easy to traverse this 4.4-square mile community and 440-acre campus. Several paved walkways and smooth paths link north and south campus, as well as traverse Tappan Square into downtown Oberlin.
Biking
Oberlin is a bike-friendly town, with bike racks in front of most major buildings, which makes venturing around campus fast and trouble-free.
Oberlin also lies on a paved bicycle and pedestrian path along the Lorain County section of the North Coast Inland Trail, formerly called the Oberlin Bike Path. If you want to take a longer bike ride, this section travels southwest to Kipton, Ohio, and makes its way northeast to Elyria, Ohio, for a total distance of 13.5 miles. The trail cuts through Pyle Road, South Professor Street, and East Lorain Street.
If you don’t own a bike or prefer to leave your bike at home, head over to the Oberlin Bike Co-op, a cooperatively run bicycle repair, rental, and education center that opened in 1986.M/p>
The Bike Co-op rents bikes on a semester or summer basis for $15 per rental with an additional $30 deposit. Bike Co-op membership is included, so you can learn how to care for your bike such as patch a leaky tube or adjust breaks gone wrong. Many of the bikes have a lot of character.
Connect by Hertz
Oberlin College has partnered with Connect by Hertz to offer the campus community easy access to renting a car for an hour, an afternoon, or the weekend. Members, aged 18 and older, can reserve vehicles starting at $8 per hour. With gas, insurance, and maintenance included in the rate, carsharing is a significantly more affordable option than owning a car for most students.
Three vehicles are stationed around the Oberlin campus. Members may also rent cars at other Connect locations, including London and Paris.
Connect by Hertz will give students a free year of membership, waived background check fee, and a $40 driving credit by using promo code "OCStudent" when signing up. Make reservations online or through the Connect by Hertz iPhone app. Learn more by visiting the Oberlin Connect by Hertz website.
RideLine
The Student Shuttle System or RideLine is a student-staffed operation that provides stop-to-stop vehicle escort service to members of the college community. Hours are from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily during each week of scheduled classes. It serves a route around the perimeter of the campus, with limited off-campus stops. Obtain service by calling (440) 775-RIDE (7433).
Oberlin Connector Transit Service
In partnership with Lorain County Transit, the city of Oberlin will provide demand-response transit service around Oberlin and to Lorain and Elyria. The transit will operate from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. The last pickup time is 2:30 p.m. Learn More
Walking
Most streets in Oberlin are paved, making it a pretty pleasant place to walk to and from class, take a leisurely stroll, or a jog around the community.
The college offers a Walking Safety Escort Service from dusk to dawn upon request for anyone who prefers not to walk alone. Campus security officers, their student assistants, and the Student Shuttle System participate in this service.
You may request a safety escort to walk with you to any college building, residence hall, or parking lot by calling the Office of Safety and Security at (440) 775-8444 or by using any of the blue campus emergency phones.
