Safety and wellbeing are the priorities on campus, especially one as large as IU. It is a common phenomenon for students to stay up late in the library or walk home by oneself but in a completely different direction from companions. But police say walking alone at night can be one of the biggest safety hazards on campus.

IU Safety Escort is a public service that provides free rides to the community at night within Bloomington. Users can download the Tapride app or make a call to choose the destination and receive an estimated time of arrival by the service.

According to the  statistics, there were 2,077 safety-related incidents involving students reported in 2017, and 89.3% of them occurred on-campus.

Although IU offers students with public safety resources, they can only do so much.

The Safety Escort operation hours are from 8p.m. to 1:45 a.m. for late-night rides. There are four minivans running the service during peak hours and sometimes can be little as two vans. Some students complain they have to wait too long, and often cancel the ride before drivers can pick them up. According to the Safe Escort Annual Report, of the 41,529 rides that were submitted in Fall 2018, only 58% of them were completed, and the other 17,382 rides were cancelled.

Abigail Burchill, the Director of the Safety Escort indicates most people have misconceptions toward their service, hoping the escort team appears in pick-up location within five minutes like Uber and Lyft.

“You might have to wait a little bit longer,” Burchill said, “but we will provide you with a safe ride.”

She added that every student gets 16 chances to request free rides per semester. By limiting to a reasonable number, they say they are able to provide every student with enough safe rides, and also expand their demographic.

“Something we really want to stress is that we are not an emergency service, and if you are in a situation that you think had better get out of there right now, or you need to call the police, that should be your first step,” Burchill said.

In order to reduce riders’ dissatisfaction, the escort team is working on lowering response times and decreasing time spent in the vehicle, while continuing to increase the number of students served and the number of rides completed.