Page 88 - Security Today, November/December 2019

Making it Easy
Most importantly, when it is easier to book a ride on demand using an app, and rides arrive quickly, more students will use the service instead of walking home or calling a regular taxi — which inherently increases safety. Students will no longer have to decide between call- ing an operator and waiting sometimes more than 30 minutes for a ride, or just walking to their destination. By making the service as convenient to use as possible, where students are able to see the wait time, routes and estimated times of arrival, more students will choose to take the safety shuttle than ever before.
Universities Doing It Right
Two universities in Massachusetts found success with this approach, partnering with private SaaS company Via to create their own ride- hailing apps for students to use.
Northeastern University launched its own free ride-sharing service at its Boston campus, naming it the RedEye Safety Escort. The dynamically routed transit network provides students with a safe ride home from the campus library, and marks one of the first universities in North America to integrate ride hailing technology into its stan- dard campus shuttle system.
Managed by the Northeastern University Police Department, the RedEye is available to students living within two miles of the campus center, with pickups every 30 minutes from the Snell Library Quad- rangle from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.
Students use the RedEye App, available for both iOS and Android, to hail the safety escort van directly from their smartphone. The app directs passengers to a pickup point in the Snell Quad, and the app’s algorithm optimizes routing to place students headed in the same direction in the same vehicle, ensuring students arrive home safely and quickly, without lengthy detours or inconvenient fixed routes and schedules. More than 3,300 students used the service for 45,000 rides in the 2018-19 academic year alone, and Northeastern representatives say they expect an even greater uptick in use in the upcoming year.
To supplement a fixed-route campus shuttle bus, another leading research university also launched its own evening van service in August 2018 to transport faculty, staff and students safely around campus.
Students book the service as needed using the university’s custom- built mobile app. To streamline pickups, campus leadership vetted a number of safe, centralized pickup locations. Riders walk a short dis- tance, then join their shared ride. The service operates within prede- termined boundaries every night between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. during the academic year, with reduced hours between commencement and the start of classes.
An algorithm directs the vehicle in real-time along an optimized route, keeping passenger wait times to a minimum and reducing inef- ficient detours that take riders out of their way. And because it is on-demand, the service can pick up passengers more quickly than a shuttle bus operating on pre-scheduled routes. The shuttle buses still run on their regular schedules, but this additional service gives stu- dents, faculty and staff an on-demand way to book quick shared trips without detours. Some universities, such as Northwestern, also upgraded their student safety shuttles by choosing to partner with a consumer on-demand service using an existing app. The university still maintains a high-level of control over the service by choosing when students can hail a ride, what times of the school year the part- nership will operate and how many vehicles they plan to dedicate to on-campus trips.
Furthermore, Northwestern worked with its partner to select driv- ers, with preference given to those with a demonstrated history of positive customer feedback and highest expectations for driving records. Selected drivers are also given a Northwestern-branded vehi- cle identifier, so students know what vehicle to watch for. Just like the other universities who chose to develop their own, fully-branded campus safety shuttle with their own app, Northwestern expects to see a dramatic increase in the volume of students who turn to the
ridesharing service to get home. Following the partnership, students will see a 38 percent increase in the total number of hours that drivers are available, using an increased number of dedicated and trained drivers each night.
Having a campus-run safety shuttle is an admirable aspiration for a university, but ensuring it is convenient and efficient is critical to student adoption. That is why more universities are partnering with an existing on-demand service, or simply building their own. By partnering with third-party SaaS companies to build their own on- demand ride-hailing app, expressly designed with their campus in mind, universities gain a shuttle service that is customized, safe, con- venient, and efficient — and students do not need to choose between safety and speed.
Dillon Twombly is the chief revenue officer at Via.
Campus Rides
28 campuslifesecurity.com | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019