Approximately 33 percent of SafeRide’s ridership and 27 percent of the Tulane Emergency Medical Services use comes from Loyola students, according to a recent a recent survey conducted by the Tulane University Police Department

Former Undergraduate Student Government President Evan Nicoll said that Loyola pays Tulane approximately $3,000 per semester to utilize SafeRide, TEMS and other services. Between the two semesters of each academic year, Loyola pays approximately $6,000 per year for these services for approximately 2,000 students.

“They’re literally paying $3 per student for TEMS, which is nuts,” Nicoll said. “If you look at the average cost of a TEMS transport, it’s about $800.”

Nicoll said that USG is working with the Loyola Student Government Association to issue a proclamation asking Loyola to give more support to TEMS and SafeRide.

TUPD Superintendent Jon Barnwell said that Tulane is looking into Loyola paying more to use SafeRide and TEMS services because of the high percentage of Loyola students utilizing them.

“There is the potential of looking for some cost sharing,” Barnwell said.

In addition to looking to share costs with Loyola, USG is looking for ways to streamline SafeRide and TEMS’ effectiveness.

USG President Michael Lewis said that USG is working with TUPD and the Safety Committee to come up with a way to relieve the demand for SafeRide. Lewis proposes an after-hours shuttle which would follow a predetermined route to student hot spots such as PJ’s on Willow and Freret streets, the intersection of Broadway and Freret streets and the bars on Maple Street. Because the plan for the shuttle is not definite, the route has not been finalized.

SafeRide is widely used from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., and so the late-night shuttle would hopefully serve students as an alternative to SafeRide.

“We are proposing a new routed SafeRide shuttle, and the student safety committee has been coming up with an effective route, the goal being to loosen the burden on the shuttles that go to individual houses and hit the hot spot areas,” Lewis said.

Barnwell said that the late-night shuttle would aim to arrive at the predetermined locations on the 15 and 45 minutes into every hour so students would know when to wait.

“It can help alleviate ridership of SafeRide for people using it as a means to get from point A to point B,” Barnwell said.

 

Clarification: In the original March 30 printing of this article, former Undergraduate Student Government President Evan Nicoll said that the average cost of a TEMS transport is $800. To clarify, students are not charged $800 when they utilize TEMS. This is the price of an average New Orleans EMS transport, and TEMS services are free to Tulane and Loyola students.