The “Safe Ride” program, dubbed the “personal campus Uber” by some, is a relatively underutilized and lesser-known program offered by UR.
Originally launched by the Students’ Association (SA), Safe Ride offers safe and reliable transport for undergraduate students between residence halls and certain destinations on River Campus when the shuttles are not running between the hours of 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day of the academic year.
The program is not specific to UR and is found in universities all over the country. According to the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) website, the Safe Ride service at the University is a joint collaboration between the department and SA.
Prior to September of last year, students used an app to summon a Safe Ride-branded shuttle that came to pick them up and take them to a predetermined destination. Since that September, the program now requires students to contact the service directly by telephone number at (585) 276-RIDE.
University Spokesperson Sara Miller explained to the Campus Times that there will be a tab within the Passio GO! shuttle tracking app for requesting rides. The program recently moved back to using the official “Safe Ride” branded vans after using the University-branded shuttles last semester.
“The use of shuttles was a temporary solution as we conducted regular maintenance on the Safe Ride van,” Miller said in an email to the CT.
The DPS website has recently been updated to reflect that the new app is expected to launch in the spring semester of 2025.
