The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Cooper asks Kleinschmidt for help on Safe Ride taxi program

Student Body President Mary Cooper is one step closer to implementing a Safe Ride taxi program that would give off-campus students an affordable and safe transportation alternative.

Cooper initially proposed the program, which is modeled after the Panhellenic Council’s flat-rate taxi service, as one of her three primary platform points during her presidential campaign.

Cooper sent an email copy of the proposed taxi service to Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt on Sunday. She and other students who worked on the proposal said they hope to get more taxi companies involved with Kleinschmidt’s help.

“Student government doesn’t have the authority or resources to ask the taxi companies to adopt our proposal,” Cooper said.

“We can, however, present a comprehensive plan that benefits all of the stakeholders.”

She said because she’s never worked with the town before, she’s not sure what the final plan for the service will look like or when it will be implemented.

Students Abir Chatterjee and Ken Jameson are the two primary leaders of the plan.

Their proposal to Kleinschmidt contained two options based on two existing services ­— the University of Rochester’s plan, which charges different flat rates for eight locations, and a citywide flat-rate model such as the one in Houston, Texas.

The two options include one in which taxi drivers would charge separate flat fees for two zones in Chapel Hill. The other would charge riders $6 to ride throughout the town of Chapel Hill.

Chatterjee said he and Jameson tried unsuccessfully to contact taxi companies in the Chapel Hill area when they first began working on the project.

While Cooper’s proposal remains in the works, a similar program independent from her initiative is expected to be implemented this week.

Mandy McCullough, the owner of Chapel Hill Taxi, said she is starting her own flat-rate taxi service.

McCullough said she will charge a flat-rate fee of $5 for anyone traveling in a two-mile radius of campus.

Cooper said she is glad McCullough is establishing her own program because it could help build momentum for Safe Ride.

Chapel Hill Taxi currently provides services to the Panhellenic Council’s flat-rate program.

An important component of Cooper’s Safe Ride program is to offer ways of reaching housing off campus.

Safe Ride is the last of Cooper’s three main campaign platforms. She began implementing an expanded Carolina Computing Initiative printing service this summer and launched the Student Enrichment Fund about a week ago.

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.