Few Student Government Association endeavors have ever created the amount of intrigue as the Safe Rides program. First introduced at an SGA meeting in fall 2001, the program has overcome a series of hurdles before students could officially call for a “Safe Ride” at the beginning of this semester.
But Safe Rides isn’t safe yet. Since students began calling for discounted taxi fares, many have had trouble using the service. Dispatchers from Independent Taxi Company, which signed a contract with SGA in November to take Pepperdine students back to their residences when they found themselves in an unsafe driving situation, told students that there was no Safe Rides program.
Public Safety, the Graphic and SGA have all heard from students who were unable to use the service because Independent Taxi apparently had not properly briefed its employees of the service they agreed to provide.
In theory, Safe Rides is supposed to work for any student stuck in the greater Los Angeles area. Those within 10 miles of campus pay 25 percent of the cab fare, between 11-25 miles the cost is 35 percent of the total fare and from 26-35, students pay half price, regardless of how many climb into the taxi.
After calling 800-521-TAXI, students are supposed to show their university ID and one other form of identification to verify that they go to Pepperdine.
They may take the discounted ride to campus or their off-campus residence.
So far, however, some students have found a big gap between theory and reality. Junior Derek Fossey tried Safe Rides twice and was rejected both times. Once he had to call another friend to pick him up and another time he had to pay full price for a cab ride.
Although Independent Taxi Company President Nettabai Ahmed said pick-up times should not exceed 15 minutes, other students have said they were told to wait a half-hour or longer. This has caused some taxi drivers to come pick students up but find no one.
With all these problems it would be easy for the “Peppervine” to take hold of early failures and keep other students from choosing to use the program.
That would be a terrible mistake, as it appears Safe Rides is turning around.
Ahmed told the Graphic that everything is running smoothly right now. SGA President Ben Elliott showed his commitment to Safe Rides through his actions as he apologized to Fossey and reimbursed his cab fare.
We commend Elliott’s desire to keep people positive about the program, but he and SGA still have a long road ahead before Safe Rides becomes a beneficial program for the university.
First, SGA, Independent Taxi and the students have to get on the same page. Although the problem seems straight forward on paper, there have been some particular issues that need to be resolved.
For instance, students should have an accurate indication of how long it will take before a taxi comes. It seems reasonable that a Safe Ride would come faster to a bar on the Pacific Coast Highway than a house nestled in a winding, canyon road.
Having a ballpark estimate ahead of time of typical response times would help students analyze their options when they need a cheap cab.
Also, students have to take the program seriously. If Safe Rides becomes economically unattractive for Independent Taxi or if it becomes too expensive for SGA to facilitate, the program will die. Students who call for a taxi then change their minds run the risk of increasing expenses for both SGA and Independent Taxi.
As worthy a humanitarian endeavor Safe Rides is, if money becomes a problem early on, no one should expect it to survive.
Safe Rides is a great idea, and judging by the work already put into it, SGA won’t let it die easily. But it might be that the program is not as convenient as people thought.
Nevertheless, it’s still much more convenient than a charge of driving under the influence or being stranded on the 101 with no one to call.
That’s why it deserves a few more weeks of students’ patience.
Let’s hope SGA and Independent Taxi can prove soon that Safe Rides works. Otherwise it will join the long list of great ideas that never panned out.
February 13, 2003