CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Communications sophomore Rebecca Etter (left) and sociology freshman Emily Holleran take advantage of the SafeRide program to get from Skyview Apartments to their sorority house earlier this year.

ASUA SafeRide will no longer drive groups larger than two people in order to accommodate more students who are traveling alone or in pairs at night.

Lately, the service has driven more than 300 people per night, a volume SafeRide cannot handle with its limited resources, said Joshua Wright, the director of SafeRide.

Wright, a psychology senior, said that groups of more than two people should be able to travel safely at night without the help of SafeRide.

"ASUA SafeRide is an academic safety service; groups of more than two persons traveling together are not considered a high safety risk," Wright said. "There is safety in numbers and the risk is greatly diminished."

But Wright's new policy is not going over well with students.

Lacey Wilson, a secondary education junior, said that groups of three aren't necessarily safe.

"Three girls who weigh 110 lbs are not going to be able to protect themselves against two guys that weigh 200 lbs," Wilson said.

But Wright said that the new rules are necessary because they will allow the cars to pick up more people at once.

The service will still carry up to four passengers at a time, but will only pick up groups of two people or less.

"We'll get to people faster because we'll have more room so the cars can pick up people right away," Wright said.

Wright said the policies were created not only to increase pick up rates, but also to limit the number of partygoers SafeRide has had to drive around.

"In a lot of cases, groups of three people have been known to go to parties or out to drink," Wright said. "This bogs down the service because we got to figure out where the parties are, and it wastes time."

Tifani Wendt, a physical education sophomore who has taken SafeRide before, said she does not support the policy changes.

"What if there is a study group of three people at the library that needs to go somewhere else? If they only take two, one will be left alone in the dark," Wendt said.

She said that if SafeRide is intended to ensure students' safety, then they should help all students, even if they are in groups of three or more.

Wright said that SafeRide will appeal to ASUA, the UA and outside sources in order to find funds to buy new cars, which he said is ultimately the best solution.

But for now, because buying new cars is not an option, SafeRide has to change its policies, which will last until the end of the year.

"I hope people understand the reasons. We're an academic-oriented safety service and groups of three are safe. One or two people aren't," Wright said. "We aren't saying, 'Sorry, you don't deserve a ride.' We're just not the service to handle that and we refer them to a taxi instead."