Some students simply cannot stand the prospect of walking across campus in the bitter cold on a Saturday night. Luckily for them, they have the Ride, the University’s shuttle service. Call it up, find out when the next van is scheduled to stop in front of your dorm, and stick it out until your chariot arrives.

Student criticism of the Ride has been widespread ever since the service first adopted stricter rules for adhering to their route in February 2010. Mark, a driver from Middletown who works security for another grounds department when he is in not with the Ride and gave only his first name, explained why he thinks this system needs to be changed.

“Before there was technically a route, but students still expected call service,” he said. “I was taking a call every 15 seconds, driving around six, seven, eight hundred kids a night. Now the system is organized so that we stick to the routes, and one of the three vans is always at each stop within ten to fifteen minutes.”

Steve, another driver who also declined to give his last name from the neighboring town of Middlefield, works as a 911 dispatcher. He discussed how students’ expectations in this respect are often unrealistic.

“Sometimes students don’t understand that I have to follow orders; I can’t just go anywhere you want me to go,” he said.  “I understand it’s cold, I understand it’s wet, but I have instructions.”

Some students have witnessed their peers behaving rudely to a driver when not taken directly to where they wanted to go. Isabel Rouse ’14 described a driver’s reaction to one such incident.

“He was very stoic,” she said. “Obviously in the service industry you have to be polite, but he was especially good about it.”

Despite having some complaints about behavior, Steve still had friendly interactions with the students who got into his van by making jokes and referencing his own college years.

“I went to UConn,” he said in response to one student’s inquiry. “I went for a drinking degree.”

For Mark, these interactions with students are the best part of his job.

“You guys get in, ask my name, ask questions; it’s nice that you’re concerned,” he said.

Mark also takes pride in getting to know the students that he drives around.

“Having a son the same age as you guys makes me look at you in the same light, as if you were my kids,” he said. “I get to know you all; these are my girls,” he said, gesturing with his head towards the group of students in the back seat who had just gotten into the van.

“Hi, Mark!” they responded.

Mark works only on the weekends, and says that he enjoys the excitement of those nights.

“It’s fun,” he said. “I work 11 to 4: party time. It’s 100 percent fury. I’m sure if you talked to the guy who works Monday nights, he’d say something very different, since he’s driving kids back and forth from the library.”

Students also tended to depict the Ride as “fun,” recalling long, late-night drives around campus on busy weekends.

“My experiences using the ride have been ‘fuzzy,’” said Sebastian Aguirre ’14. “They don’t pass judgments on your sobriety.”

Still, there is, of course, a more serious side to Mark’s job. On weekend shifts, drivers must be especially concerned with student safety.

“I’ve picked [students] up many times in distress,” he said. “My old boss used to tell us, ‘You’re here for everybody, but you’re here for the girls,’” he recalled. “At 3 a.m., the mentality changes. If you see girls walking by themselves, you stop, and you grab them.”

Though more grave, these incidents also make Mark’s job more rewarding.

“I’ve had calls from parents thanking me for what I’ve done for their children, and that feels good,” Mark said.  “That’s what the Ride is for ultimately: to keep you safe. It’s not just to take you from party to party, to your next beer. I mean, PSafe [Public Safety] is here to keep you safe too, but we have a different mentality from PSafe. We’re not trying to get you in trouble, we just want to take care of you.”