RamRide helps intoxicated students
It may become a little easier to get around on the weekends with
the implementation of the Associated Students of CSU’s RamRide
program.
The RamRide program, tentatively scheduled to begin Oct. 24,
will provide students and non-students alike a free, safe ride
home.
The program, which is modeled after Texas A&M’s CARPOOL
program, will run on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 3
a.m. RamRide will pick up passengers wherever they may be and then
transport them home for no fee. The program will not run on
holidays or during academic breaks including summer.
In order to use RamRide, an individual would need to call the
RamRide center, give a little information and then wait for a ride.
The RamRide center would take the passenger’s name and a way to
identify them, like what color shirt the individual is wearing, or
if they have glasses or a hat. The call center would also take the
passenger’s current location and the desired destination before
dispatching a vehicle. The vehicle would then pick up the passenger
or passengers and drop them off at the requested locations.
The only restriction imposed by RamRide is that one of the
passengers must show a current CSU identification card in order to
ride.
Ben Goldstein, the director of student services for ASCSU, said
that ASCSU is expecting RamRide to provide many rides home in the
upcoming months.
“We anticipate great success for RamRide based on the fact that
Texas A&M’s program has given over 40,000 rides,” he said.
Funding for RamRide will come primarily from donations but will
also receive a little funding from ASCSU. Vehicles for the rides
will be contracted out from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and cell phones
for the cars will be donated by Sprint. ASCSU has also allocated
money to the RamRide program from this year’s budget. Goldstein
also said that ASCSU is seeking sponsorship from the local
breweries.
Volunteers from both CSU and the community will drive the
RamRide vehicles. Both a male and female volunteer will operate
each of the vehicles, so riding “shotgun” will not be an
option.
Goldstein said that ASCSU hopes to be able to have 10 cars
running a night, with a response time of under 30 minutes, but it
depends on how many volunteers they have.
“We are still looking for more volunteers because this program
depends solely on them,” Goldstein said.
Katie Clausen, vice president of ASCSU, expressed a need for
volunteers as well.
“If we don’t have people to drive the cars then they will just
sit in the parking lot,” she said. “We need people.”
Clausen also said that it was just a matter of getting students
to take a couple of nights out of the semester to drive others
around.
Jessica Chavez, a senior political science student and last
year’s ASCSU vice president, said that the idea for RamRide is good
if ASCSU can get it up and running.
“The concept is really good if they can get it off the ground.
It will really benefit students and could possibly decrease DUI’s,”
said Chavez, who was last year’s RamRide chair.
Kyle McCarthy, a junior political science student and a RamRide
volunteer, thinks that the program is a good idea, but it could
also benefit the community as well as CSU students.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for community service and just
a great service to the city as well,” he said, “it is a way for
people to do something positive for the community, that’s why I got
involved.”
Clausen also said that RamRide could also provide safer streets
for the city.
Molly Fair, a senior English major, agreed with the idea that
the streets could be safer, but also that it makes it easier to get
home.
“It’s a great idea because when you are out drinking it’s so
hard to find a taxi or someone sober to get a ride home from,” she
said. “RamRide sounds like a safe way for people who drink to get
home without putting themselves or others in danger.”
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