MavRides is a student-operated organization that provides free transportation to students on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The goal of the organization is to offer safe rides to students so they can get to their weekend activities. Although the purpose of the organization is not expressly to provide an alternative option so that students do not drive under the influence, students at Colorado Mesa University often utilize MavRides for this purpose.
The cars for MavRides are rented from Enterprise, and all students who drive them must have a driving record check through the Department of Motor Vehicles, according to Shane O’Neill, the director of Student Life and the advisor for MavRides. This year, Student Life is employing new software to make the process easier, instead of sending student information to the purchasing department for the checks.
“We have a couple of door dings, and different instances where students get in accidents, or other aspects like that. Luckily, Enterprise is fairly forgiving in a lot of senses,” said O’Neill, who also stated that most of the campus clubs and organizations rent through this company as well.
MavRides is funded through student fees, to which every student contributes in relation to the number of credit hours taken. Some businesses, such as US Bank, also sponsor the organization and provide some additional funding.
The organization also provides an opportunity for clubs and other organizations to fundraise. Their website states that MavRides will make a “monetary donation” to any clubs that provide drivers.
“The Ho’olokahi Polynesian Alliance, for example, does a great job at providing students,” said O’Neill. “They’re a large club, so they can provide a lot of students on a lot of weekends.”
Though large clubs can provide more drivers, small clubs are invited to apply too, even if they can only provide drivers for one or two cars, O’Neill explained. To be considered as a club or organization for MavRides, one should email the organization at mavrides@coloradomesa.edu.
MavRides provides four cars on Thursday and five cars on Friday and Saturday to pick up and drop off students. According to John Elliott, the director of MavRides, the organization provides an average range of 110-130 rides per night, with an average of three students per ride. They see the greatest number of rides on nights without inclement weather, such as rain, snow or cold.
Last year, MavRides offered 3408 rides during the fall semester, with a total of 11,008 riders, many of these likely being repeat riders throughout the semester. During the spring semester, they offered 3709 rides, with an un-estimated number of riders.
MavRides gives the majority of rides between two time slots: 10-11 p.m. and 1-2 a.m., according to information from Elliott. During the fall, the average pick up time was 1:36 a.m., and during the spring, the average was 1:51 a.m.
The most popular place for students to get dropped off at is the Twisted Turtle, formerly known as Thunderstruck, with 349 rides in the fall semester and 264 in the spring semester.
Though the organization does record each ride given, the date of each ride is not tracked. Due to this, peak times of the year are unable to be tracked.
