It is an icy winter night. Snow covers the streets and sidewalks. You don’t want to drive to The Border because you plan to not be able to drive back. It is also too cold to walk in your club attire, so you call the DU shuttle, right?

Wrong.

Students used to be able to call the shuttle driver, disclose their location and were picked up and dropped off around campus. However, after a car accident last year, at the East Evans Avenue and South High Street intersection, which occurred while a driver was on the phone, the shuttle is no longer running like a taxi service.

“The problem with the call-in is it became a [designated driver] shuttle, and that’s not the university’s goal,” said Matt Polk, senior event and shuttle coordinator with parking services. “It was being abused.”

“What we were doing was almost exclusively picking up drunken people” said Daniel Brito-Acosta who was a shuttle driver last year when students could call the driver directly for a ride. “If I were a parent I wouldn’t want the shuttle to drop off from one bar to the next.”

Currently one van, which holds six passengers, stops twice every hour at each designated stop and runs between 7 and 11 a.m., Monday through Friday. Starting at 11 a.m., a second van is added which can hold up to seven passengers, and the two vans circulate along the route making stops four times an hour. The shuttle runs until 2:30 a.m. On Saturday and Sunday, the shuttle operates between 6 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.

The designated stops run from the light rail station to East Wesley Avenue around Olin Hall. East to West vans run from South Josephine Street near sorority row to South High Street stopping around residence halls like Johnson-MacFarlane Hall, Nagel Hall and Centennial Halls.

The shuttle no longer stops at or is allowed in the parking lot of The Border. This change arose out of practical reasons like the small size of the bar’s parking lot and the large size of the vans, said Polk, as well as the shuttle service not wanting to encourage alcohol abuse.

“We don’t get funding to be a ‘safe ride.’ That’s not really what it is,” Polk said. The shuttle service was established as Safe Ride but changed at the beginning of this year to the DU Shuttle.

“I prefer the old way, but this is more organized,” said sophomore Lucien Daigle who likes to ride the shuttle when he can.

Ryan Jeffers, a junior majoring in French and music, drives the shuttle on weekends.

“I feel like that’s the point of the shuttle, to help prevent drinking and driving,” he said. “We can’t pick up half as many people as we could [before the changes].”

Jeffers keeps on the scheduled route but wishes he could answer more phone calls, especially when no one is standing at the stops. “I think it isn’t accommodating to a lot of people,” he said.

Drivers are required to take a defensive driving class and are told that DU’s policy prohibits cell phones while operating a vehicle, said Brito-Acosta.

The shuttle does still pick up individuals who feel unsafe and need to be picked up somewhere other than a designated stop. However, the only way to do this is to call the driver directly and request a ride.

“Use your judgment about what is legitimate,” said Polk. The phones are not always answered, and with the reinforced ‘no phones while driving’ policy and the accident last year, it is easy to see why drivers are hesitant to answer.

“I see the pros and cons of both systems, but the phone calling system was anything but safe,” said Brito-Acosta.

Polk agrees that the program is “a little disorganized” and so has been in contact with the AUSA Senate to help improve the shuttle services to fit students’ needs.

“The biggest problem is communication,” said Polk, who only recently joined the parking services staff as shuttle coordinator at the beginning of winter quarter. He hopes to have implemented changes, hired a new driver and improved communication by spring quarter. Polk is open to and welcomes feedback from students.

The shuttle also provides services for disabled riders. The procedure for this type of pick-up is to call the driver’s numbers listed on the Web site at www.parking.du.edu and arrange a time to be picked up. Designated stop locations and times can also be found on the Web site. For comments and suggestions e-mail Matt Polk.

In the meantime, bundle up, look for a designated stop and be prepared for delays.