Cab Crawler to be revisited in Senate

Some new changes to the Cab Crawler program may be enacted this semester.

Cab Crawler is a program available to students at UND. Students currently pay $3 per person at any time for rides around town. Andrew Simmons, owner of Red White and Blue Taxi and Transportation, says that up until May 16, the price was $1 per person. "The Student Council was paying $4 per ride, but after May 16, we could charge $3 and then the Student Council would pay nothing." Discussions with the Student Council are ongoing to renegotiate prices that will benefit both Red White and Blue Taxi and the student body.

"I've been talking with Tyrone [Grandstrand], and I'd like to keep this $3 thing going," Simmons says. "Students have to pay, and we can't do this for nothing, but it's a privilege to serve the student body and we want to keep the program running." Simmons says that he has submitted a few different proposals for discussion, but has not received an answer back yet. "We still have a few meetings with the Student Senate," he says. "It might be $2 per student."

Last year, Cab Crawler went significantly over budget due to high demand. This year, the budget is larger, but the volume of calls concerns Simmons. "Compared to last year, the idea is that if they allocate $50,000 this year, there could be a payment every month. That's $5000 for 10 months, and then June and July can be taken off. That saves $10,000 for other purposes."

"That means that they'd have to come in under budget," Simmons says. "It's manageable, a good deal for them and a good deal for us."

Simmons says that the reason for the rise in prices is financial strain. "Right now, the $1 rides are a financial strain for us. It's a privilege to serve the students, and people seem to love the service, but it gets expensive with maintenance, insurance, paying employee salaries and all that."

According to Simmons, people use the service for a variety of reasons. "We get people during the day, get single moms to work and school, help them drop off their kids at daycare, get students to jobs if their cars break down, a guaranteed ride to and from downtown that's safe and inexpensive."

"From campus, we do hundreds of runs to Wal-mart, the mall and back. Normally, that's about $13.60, but students are getting it for $3," says Simmons.

Simmons says that students have been asking if the program will return to the $1 price. "It's supposed to go back to that price in October, but I'm asking for a different formula," he says. "It might get to $2 per student. Negotiations are still going on and there will have to be some changes,"

Simmons adds that the program helps keep students safe. "We're open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and always have a dispatcher if anyone needs us."

"We invite them to come over and see how the program operates. We have 26 employees, all of whom do a lot of training and we've never had an incident. We have 8 vehicles. We are adding a handicapped-accessible van and another car this year," Simmons says. "Wait time is around 10 minutes, usually."

Convenience for students is important to the Cab Crawler program. "We try to make it as convenient for students as possible. If you know you're leaving at 4 a.m. in advance, you can call us and arrange a pickup at that time. We take credit and debit cards, too," Simmons says.

Simmons hopes that the prices will be set by October 30th and will be able to give the best deal to his company and his clients.