Christina Lépine – Staff Writer

In March 2024, the SRC launched a trial of the Safe Drive pilot project as a safe transportation service offered by students for students to be picked up on campus and dropped off on and off campus. At the start of Orientation Week, the SRC announced the return of this pilot project for the upcoming semester. I met with Taylor Morgan, the SRC director of finance, who is leading this project with SRC president Drew Henkel and general manager Jody Goodsell, to learn more about this initiative. 

The creation of the Safe Drive pilot project

In the Fall of 2023, the Board of Student Representatives created the Safe Drive committee, tasked with the scaffolding of this project. This committee was composed of Sophia Stacey, former SRC president, Olivia Woods, former vice-president of student life, Kendra Brock, manager of the health clinic, Carson Brooks, manager of security, Brandon Leblanc, former SRC director of finance, Chloé Rouleau, former environmental representative and Taylor Morgan, general councillor at the time. The committee met frequently to create the logo, rules and regulations for the service. They also planned the acquisition of vehicle and car insurance, training components for Safe Drive employees, as well as the allocated budget and safety measures. The trial of this pilot project was launched on Thursday, Mar. 14 for the festivities of St-Patrick’s weekend, and was offered to students during weekends in April and throughout the Library Learning Commons study hall from Apr. 13 to Apr. 22. 

This Summer, Morgan took over this project by working on the logistics of the service, from car rentals to the hiring of employees and managers, to organizing employee training. The SRC hired drivers and a Safe Drive manager, Carley Vinkle, to run and manage this service. All employees underwent thorough training in accordance with the Safe Drive practices, such as specific safety regulations to follow, both general and scenario-based. In addition, first aid and naloxone training were given, as well as in-depth consent and sexual violence training. As director of finance, Morgan must consider all financial components affecting the feasibility of the project. He mentioned that “this project would not be feasible without the addition of the student safety fee” following the March 2024 referendum. 

Graphic by Damita Melchi

How to use the Safe Drive service?

This semester, Safe Drive will run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The SRC is using the services of Communauto to rent cars every weekend at a cheaper price, as car insurance is already included in Communauto’s rental rates. Every week, the SRC’s Instagram, @bu_src, will post the car model – enabling students to easily identify the car on campus – as well as the hours of operation, should they change for specific events. Safe Drive magnets will also be on the car at all times during hours of operation. Students can call Safe Drive at +1 (437) 849-6502 for a ride home from an on-campus location or to get to another on-campus location. Safe Drive now brings students within a 4 km radius of campus, but students must provide employees with a specific drop-off address. All service users must fill out a form including their name, student identification number, pick-up time and drop-off location, and they are highly encouraged to fill out the feedback form. Morgan highlights that the SRC “would love the student feedback, as it is a pilot project”, and they wish to improve the service for students’ enjoyment and safety. Morgan highlighted that he hopes Safe Drive will be part of the SRC’s operations after a year of experimenting with this pilot project.