SG taxi service provides safe transportation home
Student Government's Carolina Cab debuted Thursday night, providing students safe — and free — rides home from Five Points.
The service, which runs Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m., uses cabs provided by Checker Yellow Cab taxi service.
For a free ride, students can simply call the Checker Yellow Cab number and then be picked up by the Five Points fountain at the corner of Greene and Harden streets. Students must show the cab driver their CarolinaCards, and then can be taken to apartment complexes, houses and residence halls within five miles of campus.
"It has to go to a residence," said Kenny Tracy, Student Government's secretary for safety and transportation. "It's a safe ride home. We don't want to transport from downtown to a party or something. We want to use it to get home safely."
The cab service is replacing Cocky's Caravan, the night shuttle that ended its services the week prior to spring break. Former Student Body Vice President Taylor Cain said SG decided to wait and start the cab service this week because St. Patrick's Day was last weekend, and
Budweiser was sponsoring taxi rides for the holiday. Cain said the cab service will be better than Cocky's Caravan because students are more comfortable using cabs.
"Cocky's Caravan just wasn't efficient," Cain said. "It wasn't effective. We realized we were wasting money."
Cain said the cab service is expected to save the university over $1,000.
"I know for a lot of students that means a lot to them, knowing that SG is trying to save as much money as they can while still offering a quality service," Cain said.
As of now, the service is for USC students only, and non-students would have to pay the regular fair, Cain said.
"The justification for that is these are student activity dollars, so they cannot pay for a non-student," Cain said.
The cab service will run every weekend for the rest of the semester until the weekend before exams, April 21 to 23.
After this semester's trial run, Cain said the new SG officers will probably meet over the summer to negotiate a contract for the next school year.
Students can call Checker Yellow Cab at 803-799-3311.