SafeWheels is no more.
The St. Thomas University Students’ Union service has merged SafeWheels with a similar University of New Brunswick Students’ Union service called SafeRide.
SafeRide is a free taxi ride offered in the evenings to students going home from campus.
The service area is only on the South side of the river, covering from the waterfront south to the highway, west to Smythe Street and east to Kimble Drive.
St. Thomas University students will be able to access SafeRide from outside James Dunn Hall, the Students’ Union Building, and Head Hall at the University of New Brunswick.
STUSU president Mark Livingstone said the change should improve the service for STU students and save STUSU money.
“The SafeWheels service that we have has ridership of about 1,000 people a year and we were slated to spend $10,000 on it this year. So you do the math, that’s $10 a ride. It’s cheaper to send people in a taxi at that.
“There’s SafeRide at UNB and it operates six hours a day, six days a week whereas we were only operating two nights a week for five hours,” said Livingstone.
Clarification: SafeWheels operated five days a week for two hours.
“Basically we went from having 10 hours a week to 40 hours a week service.”
Livingstone said the UNBSU has two vehicles but often don’t use one, so were open to using that vehicle to service STU.
A contract between the two student unions ensures equal access for UNB and STU students.
SafeRide will cost STUSU $6,780 for this year.
The contract allows the STUSU to pull out in December if the service is not working as expected.
SafeRide operates Monday to Friday from 6 p.m. to midnight. and Sundays from 2 p.m. to midnight during the regular school year.
Service will start on Sept. 12. The contract ends in April 2012.
