No buses, no problem.
There's SAFE Rides, right?
At a time when safety is at a high priority on campus, some students say the program that was started to provide students with safe transportation late at night is in need of a major overhaul.
Junior Sani Hadziahmetovic said a miserable experience with the service last week left him with a bad view of the program.
"I asked them to come pick me up and they said the drivers had gone home," said Hadziahmetovic, who was stranded on campus after bus service had ended. "I insisted, and they said they would send someone, but instead of a SAFE Rides, they sent a cab company-which I had to pay for."
An internal review of the SAFE Rides program is underway, administrators said.
Kemel Dawkins, vice president of campus services, said he is anxiously awaiting the results.
"I do believe there are ways to improve," Dawkins said. "I hope to learn a lot about the service we are providing and the perception of it from students."
Service has increased significantly since recent crimes-including the murder of a graduate student three weeks ago and a spate of robberies in the past month-have been reported, said Peter Murphy, assistant director of transit.
Murphy, however, said he had not heard any complaints about SAFE Rides.
"We have done a lot internally to handle the increased demand," he said. "If there are complaints, I'm not hearing these stories first hand."
But junior Max Fosque said he has been having problems with the service since his freshman year.
Trying to get back to East Campus alone after the buses had stopped, he told the service that his girlfriend was sick and that he needed to be picked up immediately, he recalled.
"I'm convinced that SAFE Rides will only pick you up if you are a girl," Fosque said. "It was late and I wanted to get home."
He recalled the driver was not pleased when there was no sick person to pick up.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said he understands the necessity of the service, particularly in a time of high security on campus. He added that every service Duke provides can do a better job.
"Think about how many people are traversing from one place to another on a given night," Moneta said. "Getting point-to-point transportation right is very difficult. Even though this service is more important than most, it is hard not to make students wait."
According to the Parking and Transportation Services Web site, SAFE Rides "provides a ten-minute response time except during events on campus with increased traffic, severe weather, etc."
But the ten-minute rule was not in effect three nights ago, said junior Andrew Hsiao.
Hsiao and his friends, rehearsing on East, missed the last bus back to West Campus and waited a half-hour until a van arrived.
He asked a girl who was waiting at the bus stop to call again because he thought someone would come sooner.
Hsiao's friend, junior Paul Yen, said after the van came, the driver said he had not received notice that anyone needed to be picked up on East.
"We waited for a while," Hsiao said. "We were under the impression that if guys called for SAFE Rides, it would take longer or they would not even come. They still didn't come any faster."
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