Ever try calling the Ride and, after being told you will have to wait 20 minutes, decide to walk instead? Many students who live far away from the center campus, at places like Pearl Street, Women of Color House, or La Casa do not feel as comfortable going out at night without the assurance that they can always get picked up by the Ride.
These problems were exacerbated last weekend when students could not call the Ride’s drivers. It was irresponsible of the Ride not to anticipate the issues students had with calling them this weekend because of Connecticut’s switch to ten digit numbers. The failure of the Ride to effectively anticipate the implications of the switch to ten digit numbers points to larger concerns about whether the Ride is really assisting students as well as they could be.
The fact that students couldn’t access the Ride outside of its regular route highlighted a larger issue: since its route is largely in the center of campus, it doesn’t serve students who live on the outskirts of campus as effectively. In fact, many students have tried to flag down the Ride while off its regular route, and drivers have refused to pull over. In other cases, drivers have complained about picking up students off of their regular route even though the administration has told students that this is a service the Ride provides.
All of these issues occur because the Ride has not been clear about what its job actually is. Is the Ride a bus service that is only supposed to stay within a particular route, or is it a taxi service that is supposed to pick up students wherever they are on campus? If the Ride does not want to be a taxi service, then the route must be extended beyond the center of campus so that students who need transportation the most have better access to it. However, if its role is to pick up all students, not just those on a particular route, then drivers need to embrace this policy and not complain when students call to get picked up off of the route.
When students couldn’t call the Ride this weekend, it wasn’t just an inconvenience; it also made Wesleyan’s campus less safe. One student chose to walk last weekend, and got assaulted on the street. It is imperative that the role of the Ride is clarified through communication among the student body, administration, and the Ride itself so that the Ride can more effectively accomplish its primary job: help protect Wesleyan’s student body from assault.
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