Sacramento State students can get a ride to their car after evening classes by calling on the night shuttle, a safety feature for students who have to make the long walk alone at night.

The shuttle van runs Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m.

To catch the shuttle, students can pick up any campus phone and dial 87260. An employee located at the bicycle compound will answer and dispatch the call to the shuttle driver. The student gives his location and the dispatcher advises where and when he will be picked up. The wait time is generally 5 to 10 minutes.

The shuttle drops students off at any campus parking lot. It will also drop off students at the College Town Apartments. There are talks of expanding the route to Fairlake Apartments and Riverlake next fall.

Although the program has been running for more than five years, there are still some students who do not know that the service exists.

“I never even knew about it, sometimes it is pretty scary walking all alone,” said senior Kelly Alderson.

“There is not really any advertising for the service; we occasionally run an ad in the Hornet, but most of the riders come from word of mouth,” said Jeff Weiler, assistant shuttle coordinator, Transportation and Parking Services.

Weiler is also in charge of training the drivers, who must be students. They are paid a minimum of $7.25 an hour. The only requirement is a regular class C license.

“We do not just hire anyone off the streets to drive our van; you must be a student at the university,” Weiler said.

Doz Emezi, a criminal justice student, has been driving the shuttle since 1996. “It is a pretty cool job, I have gotten to know a lot of people,” Emezi said.

There are many riders that he picks up on a regular basis.

Unlike many of the services provided on campus, tuition money does not fund the night shuttle; parking tickets do.

“It is great, the last thing you want to do when you have been at school all day is walk to your car,” said junior Alejandro Contreras.