STRIPES hits milestone, strives to improve
The organization gave its 75,000th ride on the night of its eighth birthday.
Published Oct. 9, 2009
On the night of its eighth birthday, STRIPES, MU's safe ride program, gave its 75,000th ride. As student volunteers would say, the night celebrated the 75,000th life saved.
"It's been eight long years of hard work," STRIPES Director Tanner Tucker said.
Senior STRIPES volunteer Nate Ballance said the milestone ride was given around 1 a.m. Sunday.
"The volunteers had a small celebration at the house," Ballance said. "But we treated the ride just as we do any other, efficiently and effectively. That's how we got to 75,000 in the first place."
According to the group's Web site, STRIPES' mission is to become the most efficient safe ride program in the nation. To get the word out about its service, students were handed flyers in Lowry Mall the week before the start of service in September. Freshmen were also given the STRIPES number at their summer orientation.
"I knew they would be a reliable ride," freshman STRIPES rider Ben Perna said. "Plus, I didn't want to pay for a taxi."
Perna said STRIPES is so well advertised he had trust in the program despite having never used it before.
STRIPES offers free rides to MU students who are in need of transportation to their residences between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. every Thursday through Saturday. STRIPES will go anywhere within Columbia city limits and promises patrons anonymity with no questions asked.
STRIPES rents a fleet of eight cars for a weekend.
"On an average weekend, we'll give between 200 and 250 rides," Tucker said. "You can usually tell how busy we're going to be based on the weather. The first nice night of spring semester is always crazy."
The headquarters for STRIPES are located in the back of a storage warehouse rented by MU off Rock Quarry Road. Between 18 and 25 volunteers show up at 9:15 p.m. each night of operation to get ready for the evening.
"We divide up into jobs for the night," Tucker said. "Typically, we try to get people on the road who haven't driven before so they can get experience."
Drivers go out in pairs of one man and one woman. In addition to drivers and passengers, volunteers stand by on three different phone lines. Until later in the evening when requests for rides begin coming in, volunteers lounge around watching movies, enjoying the free food and playing games.
"It's a great atmosphere," Tucker said. "I love it. I'm here most nights, and I just love meeting new people and getting new people involved."
Calls usually begin coming in by 1 a.m. One of the issues callers will sometimes run into when using STRIPES is receiving a busy signal in their first few attempts.
"Chances are if you call around 1:30, which is a real busy hour, you could get a busy signal," Tucker said. "But you'll almost always get through on your second try."
Once callers get through and tell the phone operators their location, the operator will dispatch a pickup team.
With such high demands and a respectable reputation for giving safe rides, long waits are one of the only complaints with the program.
"The thing that sort of bothered me was that they didn't give me a timetable for when they would arrive," Perna said. "We ended up waiting over an hour for our ride."
STRIPES is constantly looking for ways to cut down on wait time for pickups.
"Texas A&M has the best safe rides program in the country right now," Tucker said. "They run 20 cars a night. We go down there once a year to compare our program."
The Missouri Students Association provides the funding for the vehicles, Tucker said.
"If they saw a legitimate need for more funding they would comply," Tucker said.
Students have found ways to get their STRIPES ride despite the long wait.
"When I called STRIPES we knew it would take more than an hour, so we just called before we needed to leave the party," freshman STRIPES rider Danny Bruno said.
Others found the wait was made up for with excellent service.
"They were extremely polite," Perna said. "They treated us very respectfully. We made casual conversation the whole ride home."
Always seeking to expand the program with more volunteers, more cars and more awareness of their services, 75,000 rides stands as a prominent achievement in the life span of the program.
"I'm very excited for the 75,000 mark," Tucker said.
STRIPES volunteers know that 75,000 rides is just another point on the way to the next 75,000.
"It's just a step in the process," Ballance said.
STRIPES riders were enthusiastic about using the service again.
"When you have to get home it beats a taxi for sure," Bruno said. "Any time you need a ride home and can get one for free. Even if you're not drinking, it's a great deal."
Although sober students asking for rides might seem to detract from STRIPES purpose of keeping drinkers off the rode, STRIPES encourages anybody to call if they need to get home.
"I think it's often misunderstood what we really do," Ballance said. "We're a safe ride program. If you need a ride home from work or just don't feel safe walking across campus, then call and we will pick you up. You don't need to be intoxicated to ride STRIPES."