SafeRIDE, the former Brown-RISD shuttle service, will now function as two separate services, Brown safeRIDE and RISD Rides, after the Rhode Island School of Design decided to opt out of the partnership and use a different contractor. However, Brown and RISD's separate shuttle services will still be available to students at both schools with a student ID.
Even though Brown and RISD are now using separate operators, there shouldn't be any effect on students, said Carleia Lighty, Brown's transportation manager. "Brown and RISD students can still use each other's systems," she said.
Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president for financial and administrative services, said that with the Brown-RISD safeRIDE program, RISD used Brown's shuttle operator but still paid separate rates for its own routes. Therefore, financially, RISD's decision to outsource to another operator has very minimal impact on Brown.
RISD's new shuttle vans have GPS locators and can be tracked online. The service runs until midnight, whereas safeRIDE runs until 3 a.m.
Up until two years ago, Brown and RISD also shared an on-call shuttle service through the same contractor. But at that point, RISD created its own To-Your-Door service, separate from Brown's onCall service but still using the same contractor. The main difference between RISD's and Brown's on-call services is that while they have the same coverage area for residences, they only serve from homes to areas proximate to their respective campuses. For both RISD and Brown students venturing off campus late at night, this posed a problem.
"I know a lot of kids go to Brown over the weekend for parties, and surely Brown kids come to RISD for the same reason," said Becki Choi, a RISD sophomore, "but unfortunately, they don't have the security of using an escort service across both campuses."
While the on-call service change occurred two years ago, the shuttle service change only took effect at the start of this academic year.
A RISD spokesperson did not return calls for comment.
