After a brief stoppage this summer, the Women’s Night Safety Transit Service is back on the road, but it might not be for much longer.

The service is designed to provide a mode of free, safe transportation for female students. The transit transports women to on-campus locations and off-campus home addresses Sunday through Friday evenings.

Discussions to eliminate the service began at the end of the spring semester, and officials cited rising gasoline prices. Lori Stettler, director of Student Center said the service is used 50 times each night by about 20 to 25 students.

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If the transit is cut permanently, Stettler said student fees will go toward expanding the Saluki Express bus route.

Stettler said the university is in the process of evaluating whether it is truly the best use of student fee dollars.

“The transit is very much a duplicate in services in regard to Saluki Express,” Stettler said.

Since its creation many years ago, there have been changes made on campus such as lighting and call boxes that students may use in case of an emergency.

Meredith Kelleher, a sophomore from Lindenhurst studying journalism, has used the transit system a few times.

“There have already been four sexual assaults this year,” Kelleher said. “This is the time we need it most.”

The Women’s Night Safety Transit Board has not met yet this semester, Stettler said, because the “data had not been synthesized.” However, she said there will be a meeting at the beginning of November for the board, Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate and Professional Student Council to discuss the fate of the transit system.

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Alexis Boudreau can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 255 or [email protected].