When possible, Melissa* calls Project Saferide rather than the Designated Driver Shuttle to get her home after dark. But DDS is her only option for a safe trip when she stays out or gets off work later than Saferide operates.
While riding DDS, the senior said she’s experienced several instances of harassment by other passengers, which she said the driver and navigator ignored.
But controlling patrons’ behavior — particularly when they are drunk — is not the role of DDS employees, DDS co-director Tiffany Sparks said. She said complaints are extremely rare, but she encourages students to notify the drivers if they feel uncomfortable.
“If it’s a dangerous situation, that needs to be brought to our attention,” Sparks said.
In one instance that occurred before winter break, she was the only rider when DDS picked up a male rider, Melissa said. She said he sat on the bench seat next to her, put his arm around her and said, “How’s it going, baby.” When she told him to get his hands of off her, he accused her of being “one of those.”
She said the most frustrating part of the experience was that the driver and navigator did absolutely nothing to defend her. She said they could clearly hear what was going on, because she was in the seat directly behind the drivers.
“I wish the drivers could have at least said, ‘Knock it off,’” she said. “I felt isolated even though I could reach out and touch” the drivers.
After a second instance when a patron joked to the drivers, “You should get blow jobs for tips,” she wrote an e-mail to Sparks, she said.
In an e-mail response to Melissa’s complaint, Sparks wrote: “I don’t know of any employee currently working for DDS that would hesitate to interrupt an unsafe or uncomfortable situation for a patron if they are aware of it. … We have very respectful men and women working for DDS, and our first concern is safety. We all have to remember that we do drive intoxicated students home. … It is your job to let the driver or navigator know that you are uncomfortable.”
Last week, Melissa found herself in another compromising situation on a DDS van, she said. The four male students riding in the van with her seemed close to fighting — one student yelled “fuck” and punched the window, she said. Following Spark’s instructions, she told the driver and navigator that she was worried the situation could get out of hand. They told her not to worry about it, she said.
Melissa is not the only student with complaints about DDS employees’ conduct. During fall term, senior Niki Wilkins called DDS for a ride. After a female student at the front of the van vomited, the driver made the approximately eight students get out near the intersection of 15th Avenue and Patterson Street and then drove away, presumably to clean the van, she said.
Wilkins said the sick student, a freshman, was intoxicated and very disoriented, so Wilkins walked her back to her residence hall. She said she questions whether DDS employees’ conduct complies with the program’s mission to drive students safely home.
“The drunk driver shuttle was just going to leave her there to fend for herself,” she said.
Sparks said it is DDS’s policy to send another van on the rare occasions when a passenger vomits. She said she was never notified about that particular situation.
Drivers go through no specific training to deal with any harassment that may arise on the van, she said.
“But if something is uncouth, we have a right to kick them out of the van,” she said. “Safety is our main issue. We’re keeping people from driving.”
As a University program, Melissa said, DDS has a responsibility to ensure its patrons feel safe.
“They are accountable for what does happen,” she said. “They should provide a safe atmosphere for all customers.”