After outcry for students and parents about the safety on campus, following the murder and assaults on three students, USC is trying to make a difference. The Daily Trojan reported that USC has announced that, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, students can now pay for their cab rides with their discretionary accounts-- a form of money that many students deposit onto their USC ID's to pay for goods at the bookstore and food on campus.

The measure was enacted in order to make safe transportation around the Los Angeles area a little easier:

The initiative, which has been under development since November 2007, is being touted as both a measure to address complaints of long Campus Cruiser wait times and a way for students to explore Los Angeles.

The plan was unveiled last week at an Undergraduate Student Government town hall meeting on heightened safety concerns in the wake of two sexual assaults and a murder in less than a month.

 

Many students, however, say that it's not enough. Campus Cruiser, USC's method of free transportation during the evening hours, is often not on time. Campus Cruiser will also only escort within a 1 mi. radius of campus, will not go to food establishments, sporting events, or grocery stores, and stops running at 2:45 a.m. Many students say that, while the taxis are convenient, they are not what needs to be fixed. 

USC, however, is hoping to expand the cruiser program, as well as expand their shuttle programs.

While the taxi program is going to be helpful, I agree with students that providing better free transportation is what needs to be done. Students can easily lose their things on a night out, and being able to get home safely is just another problem to pile onto that. While Cruiser is really helpful (and something that I've used a number of times), it's not doing nearly enough considering the community we live in. 

I know figuring out money is hard, USC, especially with distribution. But this isn't just our safety at stake; now it appears to be even our lives.