SafeRide program ends during the weekend

The IUSA-sponsored transportation service SafeRide, which started more than a year ago, ended this weekend.

The pilot program was supposed to end last semester but lasted longer than IUSA had previously budgeted for after it underwent some reorganization, IU Student Association President Jose Mitjavila said. IUSA invested $30,000 to see if students would be interested in the service.

The program was created as an expansion of Safety Escort, a similar service available to students on campus.

However, SafeRide differed from Safety Escort as the latter will not pick up students from off-campus locations or transport intoxicated students, and non-IU students are excluded from service.

Friday and Saturday nights, Safety Escort services end at 11:45 p.m.  

SafeRide allowed students to bring one non-IU guest and picked up intoxicated students, as well as going off-campus to retrieve students. It also operated later than Safety Escort, running 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Sunday.

Mitjavila said he knows some people are worried since the program is ending right before Little 500, but said he did not think it was a crucial concern because the majority of students using the service during the pilot program were not intoxicated.

“It was not abused as a drunk bus,” Mitjavila said.

Instead of restarting SafeRide, Mitjavila said IUSA is trying to encourage Safety Escort to amend its restrictions and by next year make some of the changes that made SafeRide more popular.

“The end goal is not to create two redundant programs,” Mitjavila said.

Dani Castonzo