Senior Ethan Graef opened the car door of the Uber that just pulled up to his house. It was raining, and he rushed to enter the vehicle. He could smell the fresh stench of the seats and the pungent odor of the man driving the 2008 Toyota Corolla.

“I decided to take Uber because it was raining that day, and I didn’t want to walk to school,” Graef said.

Ethan, who was a sophomore at the time and now has a car of his own, took an Uber at times when he needed to get somewhere fast. And on that rainy December morning, Ethan needed to get to school.

“It was fast, easy… I mean you just request you want an Uber on the app and it shows up in five minutes. It was just pretty convenient,” Graef said.

In recent times, Uber and other rideshare companies have frequently been in the news due to terrifying stories of customers being kidnapped or having other near-death experiences.

Recently, according to CNN, a 15 year old girl was reported to have been kidnapped by an Uber driver in New York after attending a Sweet 16 party. Despite the concerns, Graef is assured that Uber is a safe mode of transportation.

“I know there’s a lot of hysteria of Uber being like ‘oh you’re going to kidnapped’ and all these things,” Graef said, “but there are reviews of the driver, and a lot of people do this for a living and probably don’t want to mess up their career.”

Before Graef got his own car, he took Uber on a number of occasions, including to voice lessons for choir. He never once had a bad experience, actually enjoyed being able to meet somebody new and have a conversation with the driver.

¨I’m sometimes a big extrovert, and sometimes it’s cool to talk with the person in there,” Graef said. “I mean the guy that drove me to school was telling me about his Indian restaurant that he owned in Springdale, and I thought that was really cool.”

Despite the fact that Graef has his own set of wheels and hasn’t used a rideshare service like Uber in quite some time, he would recommend it to anyone needing a transportation service, including going to school if an unexpected situation arises.

“I think there is something about needing to be 18 to take an Uber, but they don’t check that so it doesn’t matter,” Graef said. “Also I would say it isn’t very cost efficient for everyday transportation, but if something unexpected comes up, I would recommend it. It’s fast and easy and I never had a bad experience.”