As the University of Iowa’s first semester kicks into full gear and students are becoming more involved in the campus scene, the demand for safe transportation — particularly at night — is becoming more and more pertinent. At times, this demand more than UI Campus Safety’s Nite Ride service can accommodate.

Nite Ride, a free late-night transportation service available to all UI students, faculty, and staff, has become infamously known as a source of safe transit when the parties wind down. Since its establishment in 2007, Nite Ride has grown through the years and is part of the UI’s Campus Safety department. The service provides an option to get home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. at a free or reduced price.

Hayley Bruce, the UI campus safety chief of staff, has worked closely with the Nite Ride service through its ups and downs over the years.

“The program has evolved quite a bit in its time,” Bruce said. “We’ve made a lot of changes in response to feedback and suggestions for changes from students and the university. Student security officers operate the service primarily, which was a change implemented a few years ago in response from the community where students felt that they wanted more interaction with their peers and wanted to be more involved with their own safety on campus.”

Despite the constant demand for safe late-night transportation on campus, there is an ebb and flow of availability and functioning of Nite Ride at the peak hours when needed. In May 2024, Nite Ride offered 960 rides between students and faculty, compared to 509 rides in April 2024, Bruce said. Ridership varies based on several factors, including weather and staffing.

“Students tend to use Nite Ride when there are weather conditions that make it more uncomfortable to travel by foot,” Bruce said. “So, we really do see that number fluctuate based on weather patterns. In addition to that, at the beginning of every academic year, we do a lot of work to increase our student staffing levels. It usually takes us a couple of weeks to get those staffing levels up.”

Nite Ride, from the student perspective, varies from experience to experience, particularly for first-time users.

Frances Shaw, a second year on campus who used Nite Ride for the first time last year while living in the dorms, had a relatively positive experience with the program.

“I think overall, it was good, because the people in the drive are most of the time really nice,” Shaw said. “And it’s easy and free, which helps. They weren’t really weird about the people in the vehicle, and the drivers were always really polite and nice.”

Despite the upsides of Nite Ride, Shaw remarks having to wait long periods of time or cancel rides because of the slow responses to requests for rides. This is where the benefit of having other options, like Uber, can be helpful.

Undergraduate Student Government and campus safety were aware of this issue and decided to supplement it — similar to other Big Ten universities that have partnered with Lyft in the past couple of years. Due to a partnership with Uber, two $5 rideshare vouchers are being offered to students through a pilot program that began last spring.

External Chief of Staff for Undergraduate Student Government Jack Carrell directed the finances for the Uber voucher program this past year. His work has helped make this a program that over 2,500 students have utilized since its commencement.

“It’s widely known from the student perspective and from the perspective of campus safety that, for years, Nite Ride has not been able to meet demand due to lack of staffing,” Carrell said. “That mostly leads to long wait times and students having rides that cancel on them. So, there’s a really big gap in late-night transit supported by the university.”

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The close and successful relationship between campus safety and Undergraduate Student Government has allowed for the organizations to closely evaluate the pilot program and its operation on campus.

“The benefits of the program are many,” Carrell said. “We aren’t in any way trying to take over Nite Ride — we’re trying to supplement it. Students are already familiar with Uber, so rather than creating something new, we’re simply meeting student demand where it already exists.”

Organizations like Campus Safety and Undergraduate Student Government understand the importance of safe and efficient transportation at night for students, faculty, and staff on campus. The need is heavy, and the Uber vouchers are helping to fill the desire for rides.

“It’s no secret that night is one of the most vulnerable times on campus for many populations,” Carrell said. “A lot of incidents that are pertinent to campus safety occur at those late-night transit hours. This is mostly to get students out of those vulnerable situations and help them get home safe.”

Campus safety is aware of the difficulties that some students experience with Nite Ride. Sometimes the wait is longer than the means justified, and it’s easier just to take a bus or use a rideshare service, Shaw said. Even though the service is free, sometimes it doesn’t feel worth it, she explains. However, Campus Safety is actively working to improve these issues.

“We don’t put a lot of stock in the weekly or monthly dips in ridership, and we are definitely not seeing a waning interest in the demand for safe late-night transportation services on campus,” Bruce said. “The demand for the Nite Ride service often exceeds what we’re able to provide which is why we’re working with the student government on some of these innovative solutions.”