The UW-Madison Safe Arrival For Everyone taxi-service program was created to provide students with a way out of potentially dangerous situations, but some find it difficult to actually get a ride.
\Getting the ride was hard, UW-Madison freshman Anna Barber said. ""It's called SAFEride and it shouldn't be hard to get a safe ride.""
According to UW-Madison sophomore and SAFE service employee Kelly Egan, students run the risk of having their request for a ride refused if they have reached the limit of four rides in a month, if their destination is a bar, or if the group they are traveling with has more than two people. While these limitations are put into place with good intent, they may deter some students who wish to use the service, Egan said.
""I've attempted to use [SAFEride] twice, but I've only used it once,"" UW-Madison freshman Jessica Webb said. ""After being turned away, I wasn't too eager to use it again.""
Another major concern among students was the phone service which often places students on hold.
""I was on hold for a long time and that was before they hung up on me,"" Barber said.
Responding to complaints of this nature, the phone system was revamped recently to prevent any further problems.
""Before, we had four phone lines that came into the dispatch that would put people on hold as they called,"" SAFE Program Assistant Jane Goeman said. ""We got back to them as soon as we could and transferred them to the cab company for their actual ride.""
According to Goeman, SAFEride's new system puts students into a queue and is more efficient than the former phone system.
Once a request has been processed by the SAFEride service, a student must wait for the cab to arrive, which can take a considerable amount of time.
""We had to wait for 25 minutes, and that was after a half hour on the phone,"" Barber said.
Egan said Union Cab is contracted to take on the SAFErides, which average 75 rides on a weekend night, along with their regular business.
""When [Union Cab] is busy with their own business, there may be a wait for all of their cabs,"" Goeman said.
Larger groups are hindered in the attempt to use SAFEride because of a rule that sets a maximum of two free safe riders within each cab.
""They hung up on me saying that the group I was in was large enough that we could get home safely,"" Barber said. ""There were three other girls with me.""
According to Webb, the SAFEride cab dispatched to her group was a minivan capable of seating six passengers, but all riders over the limit were denied a ride and forced to pay.
The SAFEride company asserts the existence of the SAFE services is solely for safety and not to provide free transportation.
""If people are in groups of three or more, we assume that they're in a fairly safe situation to begin with,"" Goeman said. ""We would hope that they would pool their money and pay for a cab themselves. We are happy to put them through to a cab service to do that.""
