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SAFETY

Safety Escort Express

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  • An Uber-Like app built upon the existing LiveSafe and ASU mobile apps

  • No more calls. Order your ride in a few taps from your phone. 

    • Using the location services on your phone, your student driver will find you faster and more efficiently

  • Push notifications for when your driver is en route and ready for pick-up

  • An expanded staff of student workers to meet increased demand

  • A second USG Advisor/MI to oversee operations, and ensure its success

 

Expect a better Safety Escort into 2020. The Max Fees Executive Ticket is committed to sponsoring the development of an Uber-like app that allows students to order, track and verify their rides around campus late at night. It is the same free service that students love, updated for the modern undergrad. We want students to not only feel safe on campus but also get to where they are going quicker, easier and for the same great Safety Escort price . . . Free! 

 

Unfortunately, ASU is not a leader when it comes to providing a modern, easy, and efficient ride service to students. Former Student Regent, Aundrea DiGravina ran on a very similar platform 4 years ago. While the service has made improvements over the years, ASU remains far behind campuses nationwide.

 

If we want the current service to be better it needs to receive more funding. USG executives approve the budget each year and now that the student programs fee is being raised by $5 next two semesters, we will have an estimated $600,000 to fund USG departments such as the safety escort service. These funds can help address logistic and efficiency issues next year but they will not be enough to make lasting improvements. 
 

Taking Off the Training Wheels

 

The single biggest inhibiting factor facing the Safety Escort Service is the fact that it is a line item on the USG budget. Operating under the student government poses many restrictions and limitations for the service. Next year, The Max Fees Executive Ticket will demand action from the university and advocate for the registration of the Safety Escort Service as a 501(c)(3) and establish a new, independent, stronger service for students for years to come.

 

This evolution for the Safety Escort Service follows the president set by the Programming and Activities Board years ago. As the university grew, so did the programs and activities that PAB sponsors today. Eventually, they stepped out from under the USG umbrella and received their own funding, staff, and advisors.

 

Next year, the Safety Escort Service will start testing a new platform built into the existing LiveSafe app. While this is a step in the right direction, LiveSafe is not built to support ride reservations long term. The best ride services in the country use an app called TapRide. It was built for this specific purpose and is used by universities across the country already. Next year, when we start taking off the training wheels, we will seek funding for TapRide to make the Safety Escort Service better for students of the future.

 

Across the country, there are schools that get thousands of calls a night. CU Boulder’s NightRide service is a great example of what ASU’s safety escort service can be in the future. Not only do they give rides to students but also to faculty and staff as well. This is because they have well-integrated technology and use the TapRide app and have 7 vehicles active each night. 

We want to get drivers out of the office and back on the road. 

 

To learn more about TapRide check out: http://www.tapridemobile.com/
 

Learn how ASU compares to similar safe ride programs across the country

 

While most safety escort services across the country are funded through student fees, the best safe ride services in the country do not operate under Undergraduate Student Government. The leading safe ride services in the country:

 

  • Volunteer Based

  • Rent Vehicles

  • Operate separately from Undergraduate Student Government

  • Exist as a 501(c)(3)

  • Exist to deter driving under the influence in addition to increasing safety

 

By the Numbers:

 

ASU Safety Escort: 

https://cfo.asu.edu/safety-escort-reservation

  • About 8 people working per shift

  • 6-10 pm shift and 10-2 pm shift

  • 3 people out driving vehicles at a time

  • Calls or LiveSafe App is used to request a ride: sends a message to the driver to start a text conversation

 

CU Boulder NightRide: 

https://www.colorado.edu/umc/cunightride/faqs

  • 7 vehicles - always on the road

  • Visible waitlist on the app

  • Funded by student fees allocated by CUSG

  • Serves Faculty, Staff, AND Students

  • Drop-off anywhere within the limits of Boulder City

 

James Madison University SafeRides:

https://www.jmu.edu/transportation/saferides.shtml

  • Entirely student-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that offers free and safe rides home to JMU students on Friday and Saturday nights from 10PM-3AM. 

  • 6 vehicles a night

  • Accept destinations anywhere in Harrisonburg

  • Request a ride in as few as 3 clicks

  • Receive a notification once your SafeRide has been dispatched

  • Monitor the progress of your SafeRide on a map

 

CWRU Safe Ride:

https://case.edu/publicsafety/safety-on-campus/safe-ride

  • Order online, with app, or call

  • “Safe Ride will remember your ride history, so requesting the same route(s) is very easy”

  •  Passenger safety is the primary concern of all drivers providing the Safe Ride service. To that end, if a driver believes a passenger may require medical attention of any nature, including intoxication, the driver will call a supervisor to determine if a medical assessment by EMS personnel is needed. Safe Ride is not intended to be a medical transport service.

 

We encourage all students, faculty or staff to call CWRU police and request help for those in need of medical assistance on or near campus. 

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Please note: CWRU has a medical amnesty policy that includes alcohol and other drugs. Students who call for help for an intoxicated friend (from CWRU police, CWRU EMS or another campus resource) will not face disciplinary action. The assisted individual also will not face university disciplinary action.

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Health & Safety:

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Given the coronavirus the health and safety of the Tempe campus are vital.  

 

Supporting Safety Escort service is important, but so is creating greater awareness for the Clery Act reports of crime on the Tempe campus and growing adoption of ASU’s LiveSafe App.   

 

Can any of us recall a time, when the current student government addressed either of these topics….

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https://cfo.asu.edu/campuscrime

https://www.asu.edu/police/PDFs/ASU-Clery-Report.pdf

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