The Night Owl, a free service to students, expanded two weeks ago to include a new Indiana Memorial Union Special Route and an additional A Route, both running Friday nights.
Early Sunday morning the service circles through the northwest neighborhood, the bus radio blares Demi Lovato. Groups of girls, mostly freshmen, in tight dresses and high heels pile in at the Memorial Stadium stop.
“Why did we leave the party with all the boys in suits?” one girl said.
“I paid $90 for an Uber,” another said.
The bus rolls down Fee Lane toward Herman B Wells Library, and the girls, slightly intoxicated, stumble off the bus, heading back to their dorms.
“Why are we going back?” one girl asks. “It’s so early.”
These are the students Jackie Daniels, director of OASIS, said she hopes are reached through the Night Owl campus bus service.
“We wanted to use this method of transportation because it’s safe and students are doing the right thing, and they’re not walking,” Daniels said.
With the addition of the new IMU Special Route and A Route, funded through a grant from the Parents Fund, the Night Owl service now has four buses running Friday nights and its original two routes running Saturday nights.
The IMU Special, which runs from approximately 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., is geared toward providing transportation for students going to the Indiana Memorial Union’s Late Nights.
Daniels said the weekly events, offering movies, bowling, comedy, crafts and more, are an alternative to weekend partying.
“The goal this year really is to do some outreach across campus to find student groups and departments that want to create and have late night events for students and basically give them a variety of options,” Daniels said.
A Late Night committee, formed as a partnership between OASIS and Residential Programs and Services, was developed to explore how late night programs can be extended across campus to provide activities between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Friday nights.
“In this committee we’re looking for ways to promote, incentivize and engage students in late night programming,” Daniels said. “And something we heard from students is that they wanted more options for late night transportation.”
Daniels said the additional routes allow for more frequent bus stops and a 10- to 20-minute wait rather than a 30-minute wait.
Daniels also said she hopes the IMU Special’s modified route, stopping more frequently on the east side of campus near residence halls, will deter students from walking late at night.
The new IMU Special route stops at Willkie Quad and 10th and Union streets, both stops that are not typically covered by the A Route.
Daniels said she hopes to promote the IMU Special route, which is running as a pilot program this school year, through student-based contests and prizes.
“We want students to know they can have an impact if they share their opinion with us,” Daniels said. “If they like the services, they need to use them.”
Freshman Katie Rosner said she only rides the bus at night.
“At night, it can be kind of sketchy outside, and I feel like there’s enough people on the bus that it’s more safe,” Rosner said.
Aside from the Night Owl service, IU also offers a free Safety Escort service, operated by the IU Motor Pool, which runs seven nights a week.
The Safety Escort, made up of three IU-marked vans, mainly serves as an academic resource to shuttle students between locations on campus and near campus. It typically runs from 8 p.m. to 1:45 a.m.
In the past, the escort service only transported sober students when traveling to or from at least one on-campus location, but the service has recently loosened these restrictions.
Last year, the Safety Escort stopped asking potential riders whether they had been drinking before offering rides. This year, it has also extended services to include rides between two off campus locations.
“If you’re out there and you need a ride home, it’s our mission to get you there,” Carter Myers, a safety escort driver, said.
The Safety Escort has also implemented a new TapRide app, available on iOS and Android that allows riders to book rides by choosing the pick up and drop off points and the number of riders. The escort will not transport groups larger than two people, but does allow for an individual to make two separate calls in one evening.
“We’re not going to pick up you and your whole entourage, because if you’re in a group of five people, it’s considered a safe amount to walk,” Myers said.
He said wait times vary from night to night. The TapRide app gives an estimated time of arrival after requesting a ride.
Myers said Wells Library, the IMU and dorms are all popular locations.
“Safety is a big priority, especially on a college campus, so I think it’s a great resource for students to have,” Myers said.
Daniels echoed the same sentiments regarding IU’s various late night transport options.
“It’s not just about preventing high-risk alcohol use or high-risk any behavior, but it’s really to provide our students with alternatives because we want our community to be safer, and we know that not much good happens at midnight when alcohol’s involved,” Daniels said. “Also, we’re just trying to change the culture around safety.”
clanich@indiana.edu | @carleylanich
