Associated Students of Oregon State University’s SafeRide is a student-fee-funded transportation service that provides students with a safe transportation option after dark. It was founded at Oregon State University in 1988 as a sexual assault prevention program.
The service, staffed by student drivers, is available seven days a week from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Drivers pick students up and drop them off anywhere within the city limits of Corvallis and Philomath.
For riders, it’s simple: Just download the SafeRide app, request a ride and one of SafeRide’s vans with its distinctive rooftop LED sign will arrive to deliver you to your destination, no questions asked. But what about the students behind the wheel?
In each SafeRide van, there is a driver and a navigator. The driver’s job is self-explanatory, but the navigator sits with a tablet in their lap, scanning the map for pickup requests, and navigating for the driver.
“A lot of people rely on it going home from the library after studying on campus all day,” (1, 1:15)Grace Andrade said in the driver’s seat, approaching a group of students waiting to be picked up outside Insomnia Cookies on Monroe Avenue. “A lot of international students too, because a lot of them don’t have licenses in the U.S.”
In reference to the late night shifts, Elle Ciffone, the navigator, said, “It can be difficult if you have 8 a.m. classes, but the SafeRide schedule is very lenient, so you don’t have to work on nights when you know you’ll have to be up early the next day.”
“I like to say we patrol Corvallis,” Andrade said. “I’ve seen a lot of people going down Harrison the wrong way. I’ve seen people driving pretty much drunk, swerving, no lights on… I have called in (the police) once.”
But despite the dangers that come with driving after dark, no vans have been involved in a collision on the road in the few years since Andrade and Ciffone began working for SafeRide.
SafeRide drivers undergo training which includes Canvas modules, supervised driving exercises and even conflict resolution strategies to prepare each employee to both drive and navigate.
“You definitely do make friends with the employees. A lot of my friends I’ve made through SafeRide,” Andrade said. “Yeah, being in a van with someone for five hours at night, you really get to know them,” Ciffone said.
SafeRide has been providing a safe and convenient transportation option for OSU students for decades thanks to its student employees and ASOSU. This service fills the transportation gap during hours when buses are parked in their depots.
It can save students time, money and suffering by serving as a free alternative to rideshare apps or a miserable walk home on cold, dark, drenched Corvallis nights.
But most vitally, SafeRide saves lives by safely transporting students who may have otherwise, without it, deemed driving while intoxicated or getting into a stranger’s car a suitable option.
