According to a Student Council press release dated March 10, the end of the trial period for the Free Ride Program is Sunday, March 22. The release states the change will be heavily advertised: “Extensive publicity will take place to inform students of the close of the trial period, and Student Council is working closely with Yellow Cab to ensure a smooth transition.” The advance notice, planned publicity and cooperation with Yellow Cab all sound like reasonable ways to end the trial period. But a call to the Yellow Cab dispatcher revealed, “As far as I know, it’s ended.” Students thinking of taking Free Ride for the rest of the week should be wary; if the cab driver does not think the Free Ride program is still active, he will ask for payment at the end of the ride.
Katie Peabody, Council Safety and Wellness Committee Chair, said she has worked only with the administration at Yellow Cab and not the cab drivers. She added that there has previously been miscommunication between the administration at Yellow Cab and its drivers. Peabody said Yellow Cab originally told Council not to include tips for the drivers and Council decided later to add tips because many students reported problems. Since adding in an automatic 15 percent tip a month ago, Peabody said there has been “a lot of positive feedback” from both students and Yellow Cab.
The apparent miscommunication between the Yellow Cab administration and its drivers has again proved problematic for students. There is currently no guarantee that students will be able to get home for free if they call Yellow Cab, and many students may not be aware of this until the end of the ride. If students are unable to pay, they can still charge the ride to the Dean of Students’ Office and pay the bill later. But students should not have to be surprised by the end of Free Ride. Council’s early press release was intended to avoid such surprises and Yellow Cab’s failure to inform its cab drivers of the correct end date is unacceptable.
Should Council choose to continue the Free Ride program in the future, it should use another cab company because of the multiplicity of problems it has had with Yellow Cab. Because the University’s agreement with Yellow Cab to allow students to pay later nicely complements Free Ride, the Dean of Students’ Office and Council should together look for another company willing to participate in both programs. Now that Council has sensibly included tips for the cab drivers, any cab company will surely be open to accepting such an influx in business.
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