Many students have seen the NightWalk van on campus as it shuttles riders back and forth to various destinations during the night, and some have even taken advantage of its convenient services. But for a service that explicitly advertises itself as providing a “walking escort,” NightWalk seems to do quite a bit of driving.

Husky NightWalk, not to be confused with the NightRide shuttles, is a relatively new program on campus that began in July of 2007 as a part of the Safe Campus Initiative, which was passed after the Rebecca Griego shooting. Four security officers run the program with a mini-van at their disposal.

“The desired goal of the program is to be able to walk a person from point A to the NightRide shuttle stops,” said Ralph Robinson, assistant chief of the University of Washington Police Department (UWPD).

However, the hours of operation for the NightRide shuttles do not overlap with Husky NightWalk’s hours, leaving the four-person system without aid after the 12:15 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. The NightRide shuttles do not run on Friday and Saturday nights. These can be two of the busiest nights in terms of call volume, Robinson said.

Robinson also said that campus transportation and the UWPD are in the early stages of attempting to realign the NightRide program’s hours so that the NightWalk van can support the NightRide.

This purpose, however, seems to have been lost on many of the students who now regularly use the NightWalk system for rides even when the NightRide shuttles are still running.

“It’s convenient,” freshman Nicole Jue said. “If it did switch over to a system where all it did was take us to NightRide stops, I probably wouldn’t use it anymore.”

The sentiments of Jue’s statements were expressed by several other individuals who use the NightWalk van regularly as well.

“One night, me and my friends called for the van to pick us up, and instead a security officer came to walk us,” said Vi Tran, a first-year sophomore, while recounting an experience she had with the NightWalk.

Tran and her friends told the guard they were fine and opted to walk themselves that night.

“I feel safe with my friends, and we didn’t really need another adult with us,” Tran said.

The convenience of using NightWalk strains the service, although Robinson claims that most calls still concern safety.

“In most cases, the calls are very legitimate,” Robinson said. “There’s always the potential of abuse, but the actual process of proving that abuse is simply threading the needle too much.”

NightWalk officer Ray Fix agreed.

“Every call we get we have to approach as if they’re concerned for their safety,” he said. “As far as the abuse of the program goes, it really just comes down to the integrity and honesty of the person using the system.”

With rider and call volume continually increasing, and many students unwilling to use the shuttle system, it is becoming increasingly difficult for NightWalk to provide a ride to everyone who needs it, let alone those students who don’t.

Aside from instances of individuals requesting rides from bars on the Ave, one student went as far as to have the NightWalk van transport her from north campus to Pita Pit, from Pita Pit to her dorm because she realized she had forgotten her money, back to Pita Pit again, and then asked the guards to circle the block for her while she ate. Perhaps she wasn’t aware that Pita Pit delivers.

Washington State University had similar issues with abuse of its safe ride system. The school responded by placing strict restrictions on riders. WSU’s NightRide system is now known as Women’s Transit, and is only available to women who are traveling alone at night. If girls are in a group, they don’t get a ride.

Robinson said there isn’t any need to place restrictions on rider frequency or purpose for rides, but he does acknowledge that blatant abuse of the system can have serious consequences.

“If you’re abusing the system, you’re hampering efforts and resources for anyone who really needs it,” Robinson said. “We haven’t had any incidences yet, but if something were to happen to a person because they had to wait too long for assistance, then that’s a flaw that has to be re-evaluated.”

The security officers who run NightWalk still stress the importance of calling for a ride if groups or individuals have any safety concerns whatsoever, saying that they don’t mind driving groups; they say their main concern is safety.

“There are girls and guys who feel it’s an imposition to give us a call, but we’re more than happy to come and get them,” Fix said.

Students and operators agree that the system has done a lot to keep members of the UW community safe, and they hope to do even more in the future.

“In the nine to 10 months of this program, we’ve had our bumps and bruises,” Robinson said, “but we’re at a point where we are very comfortable with the system, and we’re looking to align it with NightRide to make it the best as it can possibly be.”