Mary Cooper's flat-rate taxi program will take time with the town

Students might have to wait longer than planned for Student Body President Mary Cooper’s proposed flat-rate taxi service.

Cooper presented her Safe Ride proposal to the Chapel Hill Town Council Monday, and members voted unanimously to refer Cooper’s petition to the town manager.

“This means that the town has decided to take it on as a potential project,” Cooper said.

Cooper proposed Safe Ride — a service that would provide off-campus students with cheap and safe transportation — as one of her main platform points during the presidential campaign.

In her platform, Cooper said she planned for the service to be up and running by the end of October.

But she said she was initially unaware of the complex process it would take to implement the program in Chapel Hill.

If everything goes smoothly, Cooper said she hopes the town will be able to draft an ordinance in January or February and vote on it in March or April.

Despite the delay, Cooper said the commentary by council members concerning Safe Ride was very encouraging.

“They acknowledged that Chapel Hill needs it,” she said. “It was great to hear.”

She said student government can’t move forward with the project until it hears back from the town.

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said the proposal was received by the council enthusiastically, but he cautioned that the process is in its early stages.

“We don’t know what kinds of obstacles there may be,” he said.
Council member Penny Rich said the town staff needs to work out some logistics before further action can be taken.

“They’ll compare Chapel Hill to different cities that have flat-rate taxi services and determine if this is a good idea,” Rich said.

But she said she is surprised something like this hasn’t already been implemented in Chapel Hill and praised Cooper for bringing her plan to the council.

Rich said it’s easy for cab drivers to charge students too much or run up their bills by taking longer routes.

“With something like Safe Ride, students will know exactly what they’re paying for and exactly where they’re going,” she said.
Cooper said the town will begin researching the feasibility of the project within the next month. A series of public hearings later this year would follow.

“This will give everyone in the community the chance to say whether they support it or don’t support it,” Cooper said.

Her proposal included two options — one which would charge riders $6 to travel anywhere in Chapel Hill and another that divides the town into two zones with separate flat fees.

Mandy McCullough, owner of Chapel Hill Taxi, said she plans to start her own flat-rate taxi service by the end of the week. She said she will charge a flat-rate fee of $5 for anyone traveling in a two-mile radius of campus.

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