Getting from South campus to North campus usually takes Medill sophomore Marcus Kim four minutes by car.
On nights when he chooses to Safe Ride back to his dorm, he said it can take up to 30 minutes, sitting in the middle seat of the back row crammed with six other students. This has been the case for several students this quarter following a series of changes to the Safe Ride services system in September.
Students now book Safe Ride vans from the new NU Transit app. These vans are University-affiliated cars, meaning drivers only respond to Safe Ride requests. Last year, drivers operated from their personal cars, accepting trips from various car services like Uber and Lyft in addition to Safe Rides.
Since the University’s vans seat multiple passengers, Safe Ride’s service is similar to a ride-share.
“Although I know they’re trying to make this more efficient by having more people (in) one car, it makes it less efficient because you are basically stopping at other people’s stops that could be on the total opposite side of campus,” Kim said.
Kim said that rides also take longer because each passenger is awarded a five-minute waiting period between the time the car reaches the pick-up spot and when the car departs for its next stop.
Weinberg senior Cedric Sarfo said he frequently uses Safe Ride and has built relationships with the drivers because he is always their last stop on the route. His conversation with one driver revealed that the longer routes and consistent wait times for students create challenges for the drivers as well.
“He was saying it’s kind of tough because you’ve got all these people to pick up,” Sarfo said “You have to make sure you get all the stops right, and you’re waiting extra time for each person. So I think it’s also stressful on them as well.”
Sarfo said that despite the winding routes, the ride-share feature is better at guaranteeing that students will get matched with a car. Last year, it was often difficult to book a car, he said.
“Oftentimes, you try and book a ride on Safe Ride, and you’d be looking for a long time,” Sarfo said. “You’d get this constant error message of like, ‘There are no rides available.’”
Safe Rides operate from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week during the academic year when classes are in session and are meant to “enhance student safety,” according to Northwestern’s safety highlights page.
Weinberg sophomore Maddy Dechurch said when she’s trying to get home safely at 2 a.m., the carpool doesn’t phase her.
“When I’m taking it, I’m not in a big rush,” Dechurch said. “I’m just happy to have an Uber that’s basically free.”
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