A free 24-hour emergency transport service designed to help students in danger will be available for UA student use for the first time this fall.

Student LifeLine ÷ established in New York in 1988 to bring teens home and avoid threatening dates or drunk drivers ÷ is coming to UA to provide students a safe way to get to a hospital, women's shelter, police station or residence.

"It should be a great program," said UA student body president Doug Hartz. "It's taken relatively no investment."

The service works by allowing UA students who hold free LifeLine cards to call a toll free number for a cab. All expenses, including gratuities, are then paid by local individual franchises, chains and businesses that advertise on the fold-out Lifeline card.

Fifty-thousand LifeLine cards will be distributed to students for unlimited emergency use for one year.

Though the cards are due to be passed out in two weeks, there is no plan in place for how or where the cards will be handed out.

A total of $3,000 dollars were spent to set up the program. This money was used for housing and transportation for the representatives from Student LifeLine while they set up the non-profit program in Tucson.

ASUA senator Adam Bronnenkant said the senate needs two more weeks to decide how to distribute the cards effectively.

"It's a work in progress," Bronnenkant said. "It's definitely happening, though."

ASUA attempted seven years ago to bring the same emergency transport service to UA but Student LifeLine management denied the service due to difficulties bringing the service to the west coast.

The program was put into effect by ASUA senator Josh Maxwell.

Hartz said students do not need to give a reason to call.

"Any time a student feels uncomfortable they can call," Hartz said. "Your emergency is your own emergency."

Jennie Dougherty, pre-physiology freshman, said the transport service would be useful for car accidents when it is often difficult to find a way to get home. Dougherty said she didn't anticipate using the service after a night of drinking.

"I usually plan ahead," she said. "We always have a designated driver."

The card can also be used if a student was drunk at a bar or if they had a threatening date, Bronnenkant said.