SafeRide will attempt to beat its record number of passengers for the first day of the Spring Fling carnival today.
For SafeRide, a free transportation service for UA community members, the Thursday night of the Spring Fling carnival is among the busiest nights of the year, said Adam Klever, SafeRide administrative director and a chemistry junior. Last year, the organization transported 1,073 passengers. This year’s goal is to transport 1,300 passengers.
Tonight will start as usual, with a high volume of calls for rides coming in. However, as opposed to a normal night, where SafeRide can immediately dispatch approximately 15 calls, tonight the service will be able to dispatch 20 to 25 calls, said Suzi Plasencia, SafeRide staff development coordinator and a speech, language and hearing sciences senior.
Additionally, for tonight, SafeRide services will have five vans, seven sedans and three high-occupancy vans on duty. The three high-occupancy vans and the two extra sedans are rented just for the night, with the high-occupancy vans holding up to 15 passengers. SafeRide will run until 1 a.m. as usual.
Although SafeRide cannot travel to the Spring Fling grounds this year since it is outside SafeRide’s boundaries, there is typically an increase in general activity on campus and in the surrounding area due to other activities and Greek organizations, said Steven Dennis, SafeRide operations director and an engineering management senior.
The boundaries for SafeRide are Grant Road to the north, Broadway Boulevard to the south, Stone Avenue to the west and Country Club Road to the east.
“We believe that you should use SafeRide basically because of all of the extra activity on campus,” Dennis said. “Should someone try to harm you, that is the time to do it. There are people, they are all over, they are more distracted than usual and we would like to be your safe ride home.”
Mackenzie Joyce, a biology and physiology junior, said she uses SafeRide at least three times a week.
“It eliminates any of the safety issues with walking home alone late at night,” Joyce said. “Even though I live only a few blocks from campus, it is just easier to grab a SafeRide back home instead of having to walk.”
