The University of Iowa’s Nite Ride will extend its hours following an increase in ridership in the 2016 fall semester.
By Aja Witt
The University of Iowa’s Department of Public Safety has decided to extend its Nite Ride hours following a surge in popularity during last semester’s finals week and winter break.
Nite Ride, which began in 2007 as transportation for women, now provides safe transportation for people of all genders, and it will begin running from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. seven days a week instead of its previous 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.
During the spring and fall 2016 semesters, Nite Ride served more than 33,000 students, up nearly 8,000 from the spring and fall of 2014.
Ridership for the fall 2016 semester is also up 1,500 students from the fall of 2015, with a notable increase each month after September.
“We constantly review our ridership statistics to find out what’s working and what’s not [working] here on campus,” said Hayley Bruce, a writer/editor for the Office of Strategic Communication. “And considering how early it gets dark during this time of the year, we believe these hours will better serve the community.”
Alton Poole, the UI police community outreach officer, said one of the most common questions the department receives from students, faculty, and parents concerning the UI community is “How safe is our campus?”
While this question is difficult to definitively answer, Poole said, he believes Nite Ride is one of many tools students can use to enhance their safety on campus.
“Crime can happen anywhere, and at any time, and you’re only as safe as you are mentally and physically prepared,” Poole said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here with Nite Ride and other campus safety programs.”
Nite Ride also expanded its services to include a mobile application, Transloc Rider, which allows students to schedule a ride.
Transloc Rider enables students to pinpoint their location in the Nite Ride boundary map and request a ride from anywhere within the boundaries to any location within the boundaries. The app also provides immediate information about where the Nite Ride bus is located and its estimated time of arrival.
UI student Angela Fulgencio, a frequenter of Nite Ride, said she is excited to hear the program will extend its hours, but she expressed concerns about the Transloc app, citing previous issues with it.
“Sometimes the app doesn’t pick up your location, so you could be waiting for hours,” she said. “That actually happened to me outside of the library once, and I was waiting there until about [1 a.m.].”
Fulgencio said the increase in hours will be felt most on the weekends and Friday evenings, when the buses can get overcrowded, and the option to leave an hour or so earlier will be more appealing.
Bruce said, however, there are no plans to add additional buses or additional staff to the Nite Ride schedule, so, as popularity continues to grow, the buses may remain crowded.
