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Changes
In University Transit Service Schedule, Debut Of ‘Saferide’ To
Enhance Student Safety On Nights, Weekends August 21, 2003 -- More frequent nighttime and weekend bus service and a more focused escort service, renamed “SafeRide,” are among the elements the University is introducing this month to address student security issues. A committee of students, faculty and administrators recommended the changes after a two-year study of the University’s Escort Service. Heavy ridership in recent years had slowed response times, leading to many complaints from stranded students and staff. The Escort Service was founded in the 1970s to provide a safe alternative to walking alone at night. The University Police Department joined in the management of the service in the late 1980s. In response to a 1997 attack on a student in the Venable neighborhood, the service’s hours and operating area were expanded. The result was a huge increase in ridership, from approximately 6,600 riders in 1995 to approximately 52,600 in 2002. The boom led to staffing challenges, taxed the service’s vans and strained the Police Department’s budget. Waits for a ride climbed as high as 45 minutes at times, particularly on Thursday through Saturday nights. “For many students … the Escort Service has become one of several transportation alternatives they might consider for normal evening use rather than an occasional resource when there is no other safe alternative,” the committee’s report concluded. “As it currently operates, the Escort Service is serving transportation needs for many students and safety needs for considerably fewer.” William Sowers, Student Council’s vice president for administration and a committee member, said the changes should be well-received by students. “I was ecstatic with the changes. Student Council couldn’t be happier,” he said. “It’s a major improvement in service, both during the day and at night.” SafeRide debuts SafeRide, which will begin operation Aug. 23 at midnight, is intended to focus more narrowly on the Escort Service’s original mission: providing a safe ride for individuals or small groups who would otherwise be forced to walk alone at night. An increase in after-dark bus service is intended to provide routine transportation and revised SafeRide procedures should improve the response time, so committee members foresee no drop-off in student safety. “We don’t want to compromise student safety,” said V. Shamim Sisson, senior associate dean of students and chairwoman of the Escort Service Review Committee. “While at first blush it looks like cutting back, in several ways we are improving students’ ability to manage their own safety.” Among the features of SafeRide:
In addition, officials plan to urge students to make transportation arrangements part of their planning before venturing out at night, Sisson said. Continuing the former Escort Service as it had been running may have required doubling the resources devoted to it, the committee found, including hiring additional drivers (uniformed security officers) and student “shotgun rider” assistants and purchasing additional vans, the committee found. The new SafeRide system and the changes to University Transit Service hours provide “an optimum combination of services and resources,” Sisson said. Enhanced
bus service The biggest change: buses on the workhorse Blue/Orange Route will come along much more frequently at night during “full service” (when classes are in session during the fall and spring semesters). Buses on the Blue/Orange Route will run every 12 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. on weekdays and from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on weekends. Previously, Blue/Orange Route buses ran every 10 minutes during the day, but only every 20 minutes after approximately 6 p.m. The hope is that students will now view UTS buses as a more attractive option for routine nighttime transportation, White said. The Grounds Loop also will run more frequently, with buses coming every 15 minutes instead of every half-hour. The route will no longer link Scott Stadium with the hospital. Instead, it will turn down Fontaine Avenue, cut through the Piedmont faculty housing area, stop at Runk Hall and turn back toward Central Grounds. (There will be a special run from Piedmont and Runk to the hospital at 7:20 a.m. and 7:32 a.m., and Blue route buses running from the hospital to the stadium will now be routed through Piedmont and Runk, providing service every 12 minutes.) The
changes in the Grounds Loop and the Blue/Orange Routes will
send
nine buses
per hour through
Central Grounds and
the most densely
populated student
areas,
and provide more service along
McCormick Road during busy
class
changes.
Additional changes will be made when the new Emmet/Ivy parking garage opens in late October or early November. All of these changes will increase the total number of weekly service hours from 1,450 to about 1,495. White estimated the cost of implementing the changes at about $50,000. “I think we’re improving a lot of things for a very small increase,” she said. For more information on the bus route changes, including schedules, see http://www.virginia.edu/parking/bus/enhance.html. Contact: Dan Heuchert, (434) 924-7676 |
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FOR
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Contact the Office
of University Relations at (434) 924-7116. Television reporters
should contact the TV News Office at (434) 924-7550. 2002
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Top News site edited by Dan
Heuchert (dnh6n@virginia.edu); maintained by
Karen Asher
(kac@virginia.edu); releases posted by Sally
Barbour (sab4w@virginia.edu).
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