Saferide to start after spring break
By HELENA RAYAM
News Writer
SafeRide will once again attempt to provide efficient transportation to Notre Dame students with its new coordinator Dave Powers.
"It's going to be a lot more reliable and run more smoothly," said Powers, whose duties will include managing SafeRide's advertising and scheduling.
Powers will also hire and train 10 to 15 drivers and navigators, and he said that he would seek students who are responsible for those positions.
In the past, SafeRide was a volunteer-based service. SafeRide had problems with students signing up to work a shift and not actually coming to work.
Although many students did volunteer to work for SafeRide, the program did not generate the interest that was expected because students who would use SafeRide could not predict when it would have drivers.
Student government has reevaluated SafeRide and decided to make some changes.
"Now they're paying," said Powers, adding that this is the incentive for students to work on Friday and Saturday nights for SafeRide.
Chairman of the Student Senate's Ad Hoc Committee for Transportation, Amy Szestak, said that being employed will make drivers and navigators more responsible.
"We would offer [SafeRide] as a service and students would call, but SafeRide wasn't running because there were no students to drive that night," said Szestak. "If it is someone's job, they will be more reliable."
SafeRide will have one van and a cellular phone, which students can call in order to get rides from off-campus locations to return to Notre Dame. The navigators will answer the phone and can switch jobs with the driver throughout the night.
The goal of SafeRide remains to provide a transportation service for Notre Dame students as a means to avoid drinking and driving.
"We do target people that have been at drinking establishments and who are not in a condition to drive," said Szestak. "It's not exclusively for intoxicated people, although a large portion of the students who use SafeRide have been drinking."
SafeRide will start operating on Friday and Saturday from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. the week after spring break. If there is much interest, SafeRide will look into getting additional vans or extending days or hours next year.
All News Stories for Tuesday, February 29, 2000
