It’s 2 a.m. on a Friday evening, and I stand outside Campus North Residential Commons with two friends. We need to get back to Woodlawn. It’s a 20-minute walk, it’s cold, it’s dark. It’s a trek none of us want to make.
As I pull up the RideSmart by Via app, UChicago’s new free rideshare system, I type in our destination and wait for a car, only to see that the closest Via is more than 15 minutes away. Refreshing the app only shows Vias with longer wait times, and tonight I’m not lucky enough to get a Lyft. We end up walking back to Woodlawn, tired, cold, and frustrated—a recurring experience that comes with using RideSmart.
Launched on September 1, 2024, RideSmart by Via recently replaced UChicago’s previous Lyft program. Originally implemented in 2021, the Lyft program offered students up to 10 free rides per month between 5 p.m. and 4 a.m., though that number was reduced to seven rides per month in 2023. As of this year, UChicago has completely moved away from that system with the release of RideSmart. Now, from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., students have access to unlimited free rides—Vias—within a service area including the campus and wider Hyde Park area, including access to the Red and Green train lines. The program aims to provide fast, free, and user-friendly transportation for all UChicago students. After downloading the app, students are able to easily navigate the platform to add passengers and choose pickup and drop-off locations around campus, offering intuitive solutions to safety concerns.
This system soon proved flawed. Getting a Via is often incredibly slow, with wait times of up to 20 minutes, especially later in the evenings when safety concerns are at their peak. As Vias stop to pick up others on the way, wait times stretch to even greater lengths; walking ultimately becomes a faster option. Yet, traveling by foot, especially at night, brings up safety concerns. Students have to choose between wanting to get somewhere quickly and wanting to get there securely, but slowly. Additionally, waiting for an expected Via to arrive while standing outside poses its own safety risk, making the long wait times dangerous for students who find themselves unable to seek shelter indoors as well.
The University’s Department of Safety and Security advertises RideSmart as a way to keep students safe when traveling around campus at night, though this positive benefit dwindles if vehicles can’t arrive in a timely manner. If walking from location to location is faster than waiting, and if waiting itself poses a safety issue, then booking a Via becomes more of a hindrance than a help, and the program loses its value.
RideShare does, however, have one practical merit: Lyfts. Occasionally, if there are no Vias available or the wait time for a Via exceeds 15 minutes, the app offers a free Lyft ride. The main distinction between Vias and Lyfts is that the former operates on a carpooling system. Vias may stop to pick up and drop other passengers before getting to a student’s destination. Vans can hold up to six people, and cars can hold up to four. A Lyft, however, will take the student directly to their destination without making stops along the way, providing smoother and more efficient transportation. Lyfts also tend to arrive faster and provide the same level of safety and quality as expected of a Via. As a result, I only use RideSmart if I manage to secure a Lyft.
After RideSmart’s initial launch, students began using an easy loophole to try and increase the chances of getting a Lyft. One option on RideSmart allowed people to add up to three additional riders. Since Vias pick up students until they reach capacity, adding extra passengers raises the chances for the cars to exceed the max amount. If a Via is unable to transport an entire group in a timely manner, RideSmart will offer a Lyft instead. Knowing this, some people chose to increase the number of extra passengers to three regardless of whether or not they needed the additional space. For students who prefer quicker wait times, no additional stops, and avoiding carpooling with others, this exploit made it far easier to secure a Lyft that can provide those benefits.
Now, the University has placed limitations on the Lyft feature. On Thursday, November 14, Eric Heath, associate vice president for safety & security, and Mike Hayes, interim dean of students in the University, sent an email to students announcing a new policy update to the program that intends to reduce the number of Lyfts students can book through RideSmart. The email states, “Unfortunately, we have learned that a significant number of riders are requesting rides and adding multiple guests in order to get Lyft rides, or cancelling booking requests in quick succession until they get the Lyft option.” The email additionally states, “Effective beginning today, November 14, the Via program’s guest policy will be revised to allow students to request a ride for themselves plus one guest.”
Evidently, the misuse of the RideSmart system in order to get Lyfts had reached a point where the University decided to prevent these tactics. Their solution, however, does not solve the root problem that people are having with the Vias, nor does it address the reasoning behind why students are attempting to get Lyfts in the first place. The only change this new policy brings is making it harder for students to travel in groups.
The “overwhelmingly positive feedback” that students have given to the RideSmart system, as mentioned in their statement, does not differentiate whether that same feedback is for the Vias themselves, or if the majority of RideSmart users enjoy it for the easy access to Lyfts. One anonymous Sidechat user even posted a meme stating, “Eric Heath when he realizes the ‘overwhelmingly positive feedback’ for RideSmart was because we were all getting Lyfts and not Vias.” The post garnered 1,000 likes. Perhaps the “overwhelmingly positive feedback” the user received suggests how strongly students feel toward the new policy.
Evidently, limiting the number of extra riders that students are allowed to add makes the already inconvenient Via system even less user-friendly. If everyone books a Via separately, can RideSmart guarantee that a whole party will be able to ride together in the same vehicle? If the app is flooded with multiple students trying to get to the same location, who gets priority? What if more than two people don’t have RideSmart? If phones are dead?
The restrictive measures on booking Lyfts does nothing to improve safety and transportation features. Rather, it directly punishes the student body for attempting to book a ride from place to place. It forces people to accept the Vias despite their drawbacks, or risk their safety by traveling around campus on foot. In short, Eric Heath and Mike Hayes’s “solution” benefits no one but the University’s wallet.
If RideSmart hopes to regain popularity, some major changes need to occur, and that doesn’t mean limiting the number of additional riders in a car. It calls for improvements to the wait times for Vias so students feel like they truly have a safe and comfortable method of transportation around campus.
I would like to believe that eventually the Via service will be faster, more efficient, and better equipped to meet the demands of the student body. Reflecting on the night my friends and I had to walk back to Woodlawn, I hope similar experiences with RideSmart will start to fade over time. If anyone finds themselves in desperate need of a ride, I hope that one day RideSmart won’t leave them out in the cold.
For now, we better get used to walking.
