Slick streets keep Escort Service vans in

Many students were stranded at various locations on and around campus Sunday night after 11 p.m., when Escort Service suspended service due to icy roads. And an outdated message on the voicemail at 898-RIDE inadvertendly referred Escort patrons to University Police for rides. But University Police said yesterday that although stranded students called for rides, police would not give rides "except in cases of medical emergencies." Students who felt they were unable to reach their destinations safely said they were angered by the decision. "I'm pissed off," said first-year graduate student Jennifer Yuan, who was one of several students stuck at the Biomedical Library. "This is simply beyond . . . this is irresponsible." Ron Ward, manager of transportation services, said that the decision to suspend service was made after drivers complained that they felt unsafe due to the snowy conditions. "They were complaining that on some narrow streets the vehicles were sliding around and that they were losing control," he said. Ward added that he himself went outside at 10:20 p.m. to check on weather conditions and found that "the roads were slick, though there was not a lot of snow." "It was a little bit dangerous," he said. Yuan disagreed. "I was stranded in Minnesota last New Year's because it was forty below," she said. "Now that's an emergency - this isn't." Yuan added she was concerned for her safety. "It's not a long walk to my house, but there were four guys with sawed-off shotguns at 41st and Locust holding up students last semester," Yuan said. "Even with my can of mace, I'd rather not walk home at 12:30 a.m., thank you very much." She also complained that Escort did not change the message on its machine, which said that "escort service would resume on January 4 and students should call University police for rides." Ward conceded that the message was an old one that Escort had failed to change, but he said they "did not realize that it needed to be altered." "When we realized our mistake, we couldn't get [the message] off," he said. He added that Escort employees working Sunday night were unfamiliar with the operation of the voicemail service and that, because it was Sunday night, "there was nobody to call." Students also complained that Escort made no effort to reach them and failed to mention the possibility of service suspension in their brochures. Ward said that Escort did notify all the transit stops, and even attempted to call Van Pelt library to warn students about the suspension. The Escort supervisor called the wrong number and was unable to reach the library, Ward added. Ward said that the decision to suspend was a "judgment call," and that since it was a Sunday night, there were not many people using Escort anyway. He added, however, that Escort would work on developing "some kind of contingency plan for the future."

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