RUGBY Road, 3 a.m. The scene, of inebriated people stumbling home, is typical of a Friday or Saturday night at the University. Fish have to swim, birds have to fly, and University students apparently have to drink like fish -- or, more specifically, like Wahoos. Along with tipsy students, however, another common sight in the early morning hours is a University bus flying by with its display reading "Not In Service."
At a school where partying is known to be such a big part of the social life, one would think that the administration would accommodate students by having bus service on weekend nights extended to until 2:30 or 3 a.m. This would make getting home from partying much safer, easier and far less stressful for students, and it is an issue that needs to be addressed.
It seems that the time when students need the transportation system the most is when they are trying to get home, one way or another, from a night out on Rugby. Bus service is not available after 12:20 a.m. on weekend nights, a time when most people are still in the midst of -- or even just beginning -- their evenings out. Students usually leave parties at two or three in the morning, when their only options are to drive home, walk home or call Escort Service. These difficulties could be avoided if students were able to take the bus home.
Driving home from parties can present problems. First, many first years do not have cars on Grounds. Second, though many people are responsible enough to assign designated drivers, drunk driving still occurs at the University. A survey taken by the Office of Health Promotion at Student Health showed that 11 percent of first-year students with regular access to a car had driven drunk in the past 30 days. That statistic is alarming and it doesn't even include any information on how many upperclassmen have driven drunk. It is an incredibly stupid thing to do, especially for people who are supposed to be so smart.
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The walk home also can be dangerous when people are not as alert as usual. There is a lot of traffic on Rugby, and much of it does not slow down for pedestrians, seemingly expecting them to get out of the way first. There are also plenty of drivers who are not completely sober either. Everyone's reactions are slowed, and the mixture of alcohol, cars and pedestrians makes for a hazardous situation.
Also, the thought of trying to walk home while having less-than-perfect motor skills can be so unappealing that people may be more willing than usual to get into a car with someone who has been drinking just to get a ride home. The Office of Health Promotion survey didn't even have a question asking how many students would refuse a ride home from someone who was under the influence.
The third option is calling Escort Service. The service is a great idea, in theory: Students can call a van to pick them up at any time of night, to take them anywhere on campus, without having to worry about a fee. It is an admirable undertaking, though in practice its feasibility can be called into question. There aren't any pay phones on Rugby Road, and access to phones at fraternity parties isn't exactly abundant. Unless someone in a group of friends has decided not to drink, the simple problem of even remembering Escort Service's number could come up.
Then there is the fact that there are only three Escort Service vans. It can take a considerable amount of time to pick up callers from different spots around Grounds and drop them off at their respective residences. Given that, the number of students who are actually able to use Escort is small compared to the hundreds that go partying each weekend.
While walking, driving and calling Escort all have their drawbacks, riding the bus home presents few problems. One only has to find a stop, wait at it, and be sober enough to differentiate orange from blue.
In a phone interview, Albert Whalley, Director of Parking and Transportation, said that the main problem facing the extension of bus service is that there are "not enough people requiring the service." When UTS has had extended bus service in the past, "ridership has been ridiculously low," and due to that fact lengthening hours was "not propitious," Whalley said.
Making students more aware of the extended UTS hours could solve this problem. Increased advertising would likely result in a surge in the number of late-night bus passengers.
It is far from unheard of to have university buses running past midnight on nights when students are going to be out drinking. James Madison's buses run until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays; Virginia Tech's run until 2:45 a.m. Asking for a few extra hours of bus service on weekend nights isn't asking much, especially when the safety of students is at stake.
(Laura Sahramaa is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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