Written by: Sadie Latimer | News Editor
WOLF Ride is a Safe Ride program that any student can use as a form of transportation anywhere in Monmouth and Independence. It can accommodate up to six passengers in the WOLF Ride van. “The student fees that they pay alongside tuition goes towards WOLF Ride, so they get to utilize WOLF Ride completely free during their operating hours,” said Cameron Mortensen, who oversees the Wolf Ride program. The operating hours for the program are Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. For students who need rides during the day, it is available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Having a program like WOLF Ride on campus is integral to helping students feel safe. “Especially now as it starts getting darker earlier if they’re coming back from class, if they live off campus, or if they need to do something off campus and then come back, they have a safe way of doing that,” said Mortensen.
WOLF Ride also helps students who don’t have a vehicle on campus. “It gives students more flexibility. It gives them more autonomy,” said Mortensen. “From an accessibility standpoint, we do have a wheelchair lift in the van, so for students who need to utilize that it could be a more easy and accessible way to get to where they need to go.” WOLF Ride is a reliable resource for students who normally would not have an easy way to get groceries or go to and from Monmouth and Independence.
This is the first year that the program has an app – “WOLF Ride for WOU Students” – for students to request rides. “They just put in where they are, where they want to go and then it can give students real-time updates on how long it will take the driver to get there. They can rate the driver at the very end.”
The app is free to download and is easy for students to navigate.
Mortensen is very open to accepting feedback from students about how to improve WOLF Ride. “Even if you just try it once, just see how it is and let us know.,” Mortensen said.
Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu
