Despite a January shooting involving a Penn student, the number of people using walking escorts and transit services has not gone up since last semester, public safety officials say.
Excluding Jan. 31, walking escort services for January totaled 1,009 calls, a figure comparable to the 1,016 calls received in December.
By calling 898-WALK, students can get a walking escort from a security officer. Dialing 898-RIDE dispatches a vehicle to drive callers to their destination.
Use of the newly instituted campus loop service -- a van which runs around the perimeter of campus from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. -- fell from about 600 riders in December to 500 in January.
The decrease came despite the Jan. 15 shooting of Engineering sophomore Mari Oishi and two others near the intersection of 39th and Chestnut streets.
The campus loop service attracted its highest January ridership on the Friday following the shooting, with 50 people using the vans. But usage returned to normal levels the next week, Penn Business Services spokeswoman Rhea Lewis said.
Lewis added that the mild weather in January likely caused the overall decrease in use of the campus loop.
She added that publicity surrounding the Division of Public Safety's recent announcement of a budget increase of $5 million may be responsible for the stable or declining figures.
"People know that [Penn is] doing things to increase safety, so I don't know if there's that panic that would set off a spike," she said.
But although the recent shooting does not appear to have affected usage of the services, long-term popularity seems to have grown markedly.
January's walking escort total was 313 percent higher than that of last January, when students called for a walking escort 322 times.
Safety officials said the dramatic increase from last year is a result of increased promotion of the services.
Penn Police Chief Mark Dorsey said that the Division of Public Safety has worked with the Undergraduate Assembly to advocate student awareness, increasing advertising in dormitories.
He also said that more security officers have been approaching students late at night to offer the service to those who may be reluctant to call.
"It's part education, part being proactive and part the students becoming more literate about" the program, Dorsey said.
Despite the recent incidents, however, some students feel that walking escorts are not necessary.
"The best way to avoid a mugging is to just pay attention to what's going on around you," College junior Adrienne Benson said. "I think the people that do get mugged really just aren't paying attention."
