A UW-Madison sophomore studying at College Library Thursday night realizes it's 2 a.m. She hasn't yet left the library and still has a 20-minute walk home.
She notices a sign for SAFE services and calls for a SAFEcab, but after 10 minutes of busy signals she hangs up and heads home, alone.
Moments earlier another UW-Madison student gave her information to the SAFE dispatcher and was pleased to get a free cab to her best friend's birthday party, rather than pay the usual $10 cab fee plus tip.
According to SAFE Programs Coordinator Jacob Hahn, SAFEcab is a service for UW-Madison students ""intended to be a used in a situation where they have absolutely no other options out.""
UW-Madison sophomore Courtney Gussel recently called for a SAFEcab around 11:30 p.m. from a fraternity party in a house on Monroe Street to an apartment on Main Street—1.9 miles away from her starting point—to go to another party. Two people from Gussel's group called for a SAFEcab to the party from the same location, and both were denied services. According to Gussel, the dispatcher claimed the students all knew each other and said, ""I can tell that you want to go to another party.""
""It's not ‘safe ride home,'"" Gussel said of the service. ""It's just safe ride to wherever you need to go.""
There is one SAFE dispatcher during the week and two on the weekends who work the phone lines for the entire SAFE program: SAFEcab, bus and SAFEwalk. There is only a single computer system and one phone with four lines, which may make it difficult for some students to get connected.
UW-Madison sophomore Anna Ziskin, who uses SAFEcab about twice a month, said she's had difficulty getting through to SAFE dispatchers. Once she's been connected, however, she said it has never taken longer than 15 minutes for a cab to arrive.
According to Hahn, SAFE dispatchers are too busy to take any more cab requests on weekends. The cab service is used twice as much from Thursday to Saturday, with up to 130 rides per weekend night, compared to 50 rides per night Sunday to Wednesday.
SAFEcab provides transportation to students between 10:30 p.m. and 3 a.m. within a two-mile radius of the UW-Madison campus. If it's between 10:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. and the student is within a one-mile radius of campus they will be directed to use SAFE bus or SAFEwalk instead.
UW-Madison sophomore Hannah Gaskins lives on Spring Street and has been unable to take the service home from the library because of the distance restrictions. Spring Street is less than a mile from College Library.
""It was late enough and cold enough that I didn't want to walk back by myself,"" Gaskins said about a night she was denied a SAFEcab during finals week last semester. ""The only other time I've tried to use it was with another friend, and we couldn't do it then either.""
Each UW-Madison student and faculty member is eligible to take four SAFE cab rides a month, with one per night. They can ride individually or with one other person. Any more than three students can pool their money for a cab or walk safely to their destination, according to Hahn.
The SAFE program holds an open contracting period to allow cab companies to compete for the SAFE contract.
Hahn said the university contracts Union Cab, the company who started the program with the university, since it has the most taxicabs at the most reasonable prices and the fastest response times.
The SAFE program pays Union Cab for each ride, based on distances split up into three cost zones: $6.50 for short distances, $10.85 for farther distances, and for rides outside the two-mile campus radius, riders pay the difference in the meter above $10.85. SAFE suggests a $1 donation and tip from each rider.
Union Cab driver Kristoffer Groves said students only pay the suggested dollar donation about one third of the time.
""Usually a regular customer is going to be a little more lucrative,"" Groves said.
But according to Groves, the ""regular customer"" under the influence of a few drinks may call Union Cab for a drive home and then distractedly take another cab before he can arrive. But with SAFE cab, on a weekend night, Groves said he appreciates the guarantee of payment through the university's subsidized agreement.
""At bar time the regular customer has taken another cab by the time I get there,"" he said. ""It's big money versus SAFE money.""
John McNamara, Union Cab's accounts manager, said Union Cab drivers get paid by the meter and do not sacrifice their pay to participate in the SAFE service. Each mile meters in at $2.25 for regular customers. Union Cab drivers meter and record each SAFE trip like usual and then bill the university.
""It's a good program for the students because it gets them home safe,"" Groves said. ""It's a good program for us because it helps us make a little more money during our shift.""
