Marquette’s EagleExpress safe ride service completed its 100,000th ride on Thursday, Nov. 30, reaching the milestone within the first 10 months of operation.
The 100,000th rider received a gift package including a $25 VISA gift card, an MUPD Blue T-shirt, a Marquette scarf and an EagleExpress knit hat. Blue, the Marquette University Police Department’s community outreach dog, rode along with students the night the 100,000th ride occurred.
Thanks to the work of the EagleExpress team, including its student drivers and staff, service performance is strong, as indicated by the following measures:
- Average ride duration: 5.4 minutes
- Average wait time: 9.4 minutes
- Average ride rating: 4.8 (out of 5)
“I’d like to thank all involved in making EagleExpress a success in providing a safe, reliable transportation option for our campus community,” said Edith Hudson, chief of the Marquette University Police Department. “I’d especially like to recognize Sgt. Amy Oltendorf, who has worked tirelessly to reinvigorate Marquette’s student transportation program since launching EagleExpress earlier this year.”
EagleExpress, powered by Via, provides free shared rides to the Marquette community as an alternative to walking alone in the evenings. EagleExpress vans run 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily and provide door-to-door service from locations starting and ending on campus. Anyone with a valid Marquette email address can download the free EagleExpress app on the App Store and Google Play and set up a profile to use the service.
EagleExpress launched on Jan. 9, with 6,325 accounts created in the nearly 11 months since. With the app, users can request a ride for groups up to eight individuals, view the approximate wait times and track their rides. There are eight vans in the fleet, each holding up to 12 passengers, as well as a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, which holds four passengers.
EagleExpress is an outcome of the President’s Task Force on Community Safety. In 2022, the task force committed to reimagining campus transportation by identifying options for modernizing operations and improving the student experience – both for riders and drivers. Now with a technology-based operation using Via, EagleExpress drivers are dispatched directly by mounted smartphones in the vehicles, rides are routed for more efficient pick-ups and drop-offs, and the app simplifies booking a ride and automates updates for riders. This helps maximize the number of safe rides provided while reducing student wait times. Additionally, data is leveraged to optimize driver hours and staffing.
Learn more about the EagleExpress service and how the app works.
