Safe Rides Crew 102, a student-run service catering to teenagers in the North Shore area by providing them with a safe method of transportation, stopped running as of this year.

Ali Malehorn, a New Trier senior and former leader of the group, described the program as a way to ensure that teenagers in the area “would not have to resort to dangerous transportation methods home.”

“I think that students will adjust just fine but with less options comes more room to make a life-altering decision.”

The group would meet at the Kenilworth Union Church and it consisted of multiple adult leaders as well as three student leaders, who each led members in coordinating and scheduling their driving nights and hours.

Crew 102 was sponsored and insured by Boy Scouts of America. In reassessing their partnership with the organization and their yearly insurance review, Boy Scouts of America deemed Safe Rides too high risk. This marked the end of their sponsorship of the program.

However, this isn’t the first time the group has faced challenges to its continuation. In January of 2008, an Illinois teen driving law on curfew was revised, pushing the weekend curfew time to 11pm from the original hour of 12am.

The group’s demand was the greatest at 11pm, which is what led to its temporary halt. That following summer, legislation was passed to exempt Crew 102 and other non-profit organizations from the curfew, allowing them to start up again.

While the group’s main reason for discontinuing the program originated in the termination of its partnership with Boy Scouts of America, there were other contributing factors.

Companies such as Uber  provided easy transportation at a cheap price, creating competition for Safe Rides.

Malehorn said, “This caused a cycle: A decrease in calls discouraged volunteers; volunteers began not showing up on their assigned nights; when people did call in, we didn’t have a sufficient amount of volunteers; unreliability of Safe Rides encouraged more use of Uber.”

Kris Fishman, an adult leader who also worked as a liaison with Boy Scouts of America,  also saw this decrease in rider activity with Uber, but provided a different reason for its depreciation other than its lack of dependability.

“Safe Rides was used by students a lot,” Fishman said, “Then, as Uber became more prevalent, we found that kids wanted to go from one party to another party and Safe Rides doesn’t allow that. You get a safe ride home and that’s the beauty of Safe Rides.”

According to Fishman, ridership went down from 60 calls at its height a night to around 30.

While Crew 102’s program is at a halt, most would assume the student population is impacted.

However, Cameron Zwick, a senior and another former student leader, doesn’t believe so: “It’s not like I think we lost a good cause. Obviously, with Uber, people are being conscious about when they should drive. There really is no negative impact because the numbers [calls] were so low.”

The effect that the group’s discontinuation will have on students, according to Fishman will be significant.

“There were some kids that really relied on Safe Rides. I think it will be hard on them.”

“I think that students will adjust just fine but with less options comes more room to make a life-altering decision,” Malehorn said.

The loss of the program may affect some students, while others will use of alternate services, the community built in the long, late night hours of driving will be missed.

“The bond that developed between students from 10pm-2am was also unique,” Malehorn said. “You met new people both in your group and in your car. There was a sense of tradition and community that is no longer there.”

In agreement with Malehorn, Fishman said, “The kids who were providing the ride actually had a wonderful community in it of themselves to be able to be together and to help their peers.”

Malehorn, sad to see this community go, described the work that they did with pride.

“We prevented tragedy. In the history of Safe Rides, we had never had a death caused by drunk driving. Not all townships can say that, unfortunately.”