Off-Third: NYU Secure Journey provides skateboard service

College students want reliability in the case of their security. Who’s extra cautious than New York Skaters?

Off-Third is WSN’s satire column.

It’s nearly the top of the semester, which implies that everybody’s cash is operating out, and so they’re all going out as a lot as they’ll. And whereas staying out all hours of the night time is enjoyable, particularly in comparison with learning for finals, the journey again dwelling won’t be. The restricted variety of accessible Secure Journey drivers and a flawed interface have left college students annoyed and, at instances, hopeless. With a view to fight this, NYU has turned to essentially the most dependable group of individuals in New York Metropolis: skate boarders.

 NYU has partnered with the New York Metropolis Division of Parks and Recreation with the intention to recruit skaters from totally different parks across the metropolis. If skaters could be within the metropolis’s parks after darkish and are available out unhurt, then clearly they know find out how to be secure.

 “We’re proud to signify New York’s best — appears to be like clever,” one Secure Journey skateboarder, who claims to know find out how to play guitar, boasted.

Including skaters, people who find themselves used to the streets, simply made sense. One security officer even described how they “added to the cool issue of NYU Campus Security.” 

 As soon as town’s parks are closed, the skaters are provided free stick-and-poke tattoos and hand-rolled cigarettes in alternate for escorting NYU college students to their dorms late at night time. Greater than half of the skate boarders have taken up the deal, including a whole bunch of alternatives for college kids to really feel safe on their journey again to their residences.

 These skaters are then given a harness, which connects them to a small crate that goes behind them. College students then sit in these crates and are safely escorted to their vacation spot. Sadly, just one scholar could trip in these carts at a time.

The lengthy wait instances and defective functions of the outdated Secure Journey system are solely exacerbated by dangerous climate. Final weekend, because the rain poured down on the streets of New York Metropolis, the wait time for pickup was practically 4 hours lengthy.

 One sophomore described that she obtained to the placement the place she was set to be picked up, however the pick-up time modified so many instances that she was the sufferer of 47 pickpocket makes an attempt earlier than the automotive arrived. One other scholar described how they booked a trip that was stated to be quarter-hour away, however after they tracked the automotive on the app an hour later, they noticed that it was dropping folks off at Newark.

 Many are praising NYU for selling environmentally pleasant modes of transportation, however others are left a bit of involved. They’re anxious that the smoke from the skate boarders’ cigarettes may hurt these with preexisting lung circumstances.

 To accommodate, Secure Journey is making an attempt to section in numerous different modes of transportation, together with curler skaters, hoverboarders and folks that do parkour on Citi Bikes.

 The brand new program will not be an ideal resolution. Automotive accidents are all the time an inherent danger when skateboarding, particularly in the event you’re hooked up to a skateboarder by a rope. There have even been a number of stories of Secure Journey automobiles colliding with Secure Journey skate boarders, with college students hooked up. Fortunately, solely about three dozen accidents have occurred for the reason that implementation of this system, which occurred final night time.

Off-Third is WSN’s satire column.

WSN’s Opinion part strives to publish concepts value discussing. The views introduced within the Opinion part are solely the views of the author.

Contact Lily Ritterman-Peña at [email protected]