Cabs on Campus finally kicks off
By Meg Parker
In an effort to reduce drunk driving, Santa Clarans Against Drunk Driving (SCADD) kicked off a new program called Cabs on Campus last Friday. The program allows students to call the Santa Clara Cab Company for free rides home from placs like The Hut, CandJ's or the Claran Lounge.
Instead of having students pay the usual fare, Santa Clara University will pay up to $5 of the tab to any destination on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. In exchange for the ride, Santa Clara students simply fill out a voucher and tip generously.
Senior Wayne Wu gave it a try this weekend.
"It's a great program because it keeps people from driving drunk," he said.
Wu was one of more than 140 students who called cabs this weekend. He thought the program went well, despite some anticipated problems. Wu said he was concerned about waiting during peak hours, but was pleasantly surprised when a cab arrived 15 minutes after he called for one.
"Over time, this will improve," senior Melanie Lundin, the program's founder, said.
Lundin founded the program after losing her sister, Beth Lundin, in a drunk driving accident last fall. Friday's kick-off came exactly 11 months after the incident.
The participation this weekend and in the program's early stages is the evidence Lundin is looking for to prove to the university that a larger program is really needed.
After researching more than 15 colleges and universities this summer, Lundin realized that Santa Clara is a minority in terms of providing escort programs to prevent drunk driving. Most of the schools she contacted have at least one program and many are also looking to expand.
Lundin said that the original plan was to create a shuttle system, using volunteer student drivers and cars owned by the university, but this became too costly for the time being.
Lundin was looking for a starting point from which to grow and modeled the current program after one at Gonzaga University, which makes cab rides available in emergency situations only.
"The program right now is a temporary solution, just a jumping off point, because it was fast enough to get going right away and it's not as financially burdening," Lundin said, adding that it is the first of what she hopes will be many seps.
Ideally, Lundin thinks that a shuttle service like the one used at the University of Southern California should be implemented on campus on a smaller scale.
She said USC's program is the most technologically advanced escort program in the country, with each of the cars having a computerized dispatch system.
And, the university holds a contract with Ford Motor Company to provide cars and students are trained and paid to drive the cars like shuttles.
"To have a program like this would be the biggest dream ever, but we could model something similar," Lundin said. "I see it as a very realistic goal."
To secure future funding of the program, Lundin is looking into local alcohol distributors, the bars, the university and donations from local businesses.
To promote Cabs on Campus, Stuft Pizza and The Hut are planning promotion nights where they will donate 15 percent of their proceeds to SCADD. Stuft Pizza night is on Oct. 23. The Hut is hosting two promotional nights, one on Oct. 24 and the other on Nov. 7.