After terminating its contract with Liberty Cab in May spending the entire fall semester without an affiliated cab company, the Faculty Student Association has announced that Buffalo Transportation, Inc. will provide flat-rate taxi service to UB students to and from popular locations around both campuses.
Effective Jan. 17, the company has also signed on to a program allowing students to pay for this transportation with Campus Cash, a service students have been without since the termination of Liberty Cab's contract.
"We sent out a request for service proposal to a number of companies last fall, and nobody responded because of our insurance requirement," said FSA Director Mitchell Green. "These folks came to us a little bit later and said they have the appropriate insurance, so we've established a relationship with them."
The Campus Cash contract requires participating companies operating vehicles on campus to have $2 million in insurance coverage. While the majority of Liberty Cab's vehicles met New York State insurance requirements, they didn't meet FSA's requirement so the contract was terminated.
"We require the cab company to have a certain level of insurance so that if there is an accident while a student was in a taxi and paid with Campus Cash, there would be an appropriate level of coverage if somebody got hurt," Green said. "We were looking for a higher level of coverage than the minimum, and no one else was willing to provide that."
This kind of contract prevents legal problems should anything go awry. And with FSA's potential for liability when Campus Cash is somehow involved in an incident, the contract is a necessary level of protection for the not-for-profit organization.
A feature that comes with the new company is flat rates for specific destinations from North and South Campuses, available only to UB students.
"We did the flat rate because we've had complaints from students that fares seemed exorbitant, when cabbies took circuitous routes to run the meter and raise rates," Green said. "We wanted to ensure that students would be paying consistent fees."
Some students, like Clark Dever, have said the concept of flat cab rates is an attractive option for the fiscal college student.
"Flat rates sounds like an interesting marketing plan. There aren't too many different places UB students take cabs, so it makes sense to have preset prices," said Dever, a senior management systems information major. "It's also nice to hear that the cab companies are taking ethical responsibility for their drivers, insuring the quality of the product they deliver by setting fares up front."
Jennifer Kubicki, a freshman environmental design major, thought the preset fares and Campus Cash option would make transportation easier for students.
"It's a good idea because you know you aren't being cheated," she said. "The fact that they take Campus Cash is also a great thing because it's really easy to just swipe your card. If you don't have money around because you're coming back from shopping or going clubbing or whatever, you don't have to worry about having enough cash for the cab."
Matthew Paluch, a junior accounting major, said while the flat rate concept is a good idea, he's never thought of local cab fares as unreasonable.
"I've never personally had a problem with cab drivers taking long routes, and I've found fares in the past to be pretty reasonable," Paluch said. "I guess I'm just going to wait and see what these flat rates are."
"And I find the concept of using Campus Cash to be a bit ironic," he added. "Many students will essentially be getting back to their dorm or apartment on their parents dime."
Green said FSA hasn't received any student feedback yet, although students have been utilizing Buffalo Transportation's services.
"We've already had students using it," Green said. "We haven't gotten any student feedback yet, but we know students are using it already because we can see the transactions going through our computer."
"We haven't heard any positive feedback, but we also haven't heard any complaints," he added. "Hopefully that's a good sign and we'll be getting some feedback soon."
