The Eight Steps of Taking a RamSafe

Ah, RamSafe. Operating from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m, it’s the popular nighttime way for freshmen to get around campus. Taking one for the first time is definitely a freshman rite of passage, and afterwards you can complain about the horrendous wait, how you could’ve walked home in the time it took for them to find you, how you could’ve gotten killed while you were waiting for one, and the list goes on. We’ve identified 8 steps of the VCU experience when taking a RamSafe:

Step One: The Setup.

You’re at a party on the opposite side of campus, working at the Bowe Street parking deck or hanging out with one of your older friends when you check the clock and realize it’s the wee hours of the morning and, for the sake of your sanity, you should probably try and get home. With Ubers costing real money and the Campus Connector not operating anymore, you’re left with one choice if you want to feel safe getting back to your twin XL bed: RamSafe. 

Step Two: The Request.

You log into myVCU, hit “request RamSafe,” and spend the next twenty minutes periodically checking to see if they’ve authorized your request/found a driver/assigned a driver to you yet. It’s around this time you start to get the feeling that you really could have walked home faster, but the thought of becoming the next VCU alert keeps you from hitting “cancel request.”

Step Three: The Wait.

After they assign a driver/van to you, there’s nothing left to do but wait. And wait. And wait. And check where the van is. Aaaaaand wait.

Step Four: The Wait, Continued.

After enough time has elapsed for you to regret requesting it twice, check all of your grades and be disappointed by both SafeNet and VCU Guest Network, you finally get the text that the van is either “close or already at your location.” You sprint outside to catch it, only to find it’s not out there yet. Great.

Step Five: The Pickup.

Finally, finally, finally you see the van in the near distance. All you want at this point is to get home as quickly as possible, so you hope that this part of actually taking the RamSafe will be quicker than just waiting for it. You finally hop on board, hoping that sleeping on a RamSafe is socially acceptable.

Step Six: The Drive.

You flash your I.D. and quickly find a seat, taking in your surroundings and the other students on this journey with you. If it’s a weekend, everyone is bound to be pretty drunk and rowdy; if it’s a weekday, there’ll be a few of those, but mostly just other students who just want to get home. The van slowly but surely starts making its way to campus, and you can almost feel your bed.

Step Seven: The (Other) Pickups.

You’re so close to your dorm you can practically smell your musty dorm room…except then the van makes a left towards the Compass to pick up more students, aka getting further away from where you need to be. At this point, you just aren’t surprised by anything, and are just grateful you aren’t walking. 

Step Eight: The End.

After what seems like THE most complicated route to your dorm, you get off and leave the other bedraggled/drunk/exhausted students on the van and drag yourself to your bed. Even though the whole long and complicated ordeal took seemingly all night, you’re glad RamSafe exists because there is NO way you would’ve walked down Broad at that time of night. 

Thanks for keeping us Rams safe, RamSafe!

• RVA
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