A Little Disruption Now And Then

Gotta Go taxi at the scene of a party house

In France the other day an angry mob of cabbie sympathizers attacked an Uber car, damaging both the car and the young businesswoman passenger.

Uber is one of a number of new companies that rely on the ubiquitous phone app to connect customer with product in real time, in this case a ride.

To protect the iconic cab industry the French government enacted a law saying Uber cars must wait 15 minutes before responding to an Internet hail from a customer. 

Which would be kind of like our government passing a law in 1908 saying automobiles cannot go any faster than a horse.

In Amherst, in spite of an extensive PVTA free bus system, the cab industry exploded over the past few years going from one or two sleepy companies to an energetic dozen two years ago. 

But once the town enacted stricter inspection process requiring each cab to have an expensive meter installed the number of companies dropped to nine and certified cabs went from a high of 61 to the current 19.

Since Amherst is a college town it should come as no surprise that this new way of doing business gained an early foothold.  Both UMass and Amherst College have embraced Zipcars which will somewhat impact the local cab industry.

But the real cab killer is  Sobrio, a ride sharing program run by the Student Government Association that connects riders with customers at the tap of a finger.  The program test run last semester was so successful (handling 350-500 rides per weekend) the SGA decided to kill the more expensive less efficient "Sober Shuttle" bus program.

For traditional cab companies doing business in Amherst the handwriting is now etched on an electronic wall. "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping."

SGA Secretary Lindsay Vitale thoroughly explains Sobrio

UMass Sober Shuttle Scuttled

 Sober Shuttle 1:15 AM Amherst Town Center

After less than a one-year trial run the much ballyhooed Sober Shuttle is no more.

The late night program used PVTA buses that ran after the bars closed in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the road and to cut down on waves of students walking through residential neighborhoods to get back to their beds in the dead of night.

But it seemed to duplicate already existing runs of the PVTA and never seemed to gain traction.  A uniformed UMass police officer assigned to every run could also have acted as a popularity deterrent.

The $50,000 program was a Student Government Association project paid for via student fees.

UMass administrators were not overly enthusiastic in promoting the endeavor because they did not wish to be seen condoning/enabling excessive alcohol consumption.

But at the same time they used it to demonstrate the University and students were doing something about rowdy behavior.

Fear not, however, the good intentioned safety program has been replaced with a more cost effective answer.  Yeah, there's an app for that: Sobrio. 

SGA President Zac Broughton reports

Party Permit?

Meadow Street Mayhem last Spring

The Safe & Healthy Neighborhood working group is furiously formulating a rental registration and permitting system bylaw for approval at the Annual Spring Town Meeting, to deal with that age old blight on Amherst residential neighborhoods -- the Party House. 

One of the other ideas being worked on (hopefully not too hard)  is a joint effort of the town and UMass to have students pre-register off campus parties.  Presumably if a party gets out of hand, the police will be a tad more accommodating because at least the party hosts had registered the event.

But if police are called to the atypical rowdy party going full blast and the hosts have not registered the event, then police will be a little harder on the perpetrators, and have one more charge to add to the roster. 

The latter will of course be the norm.
 
Some states have tried to "tax" illegal marijuana over the years by requiring dealers to pre purchase "tax stamps" for their contraband.  If cops bust a dealer without the stamps then officials can seize their personal property, or something like that.

It doesn't work very well.  Amazingly.

Kind of like trying to keep guns out of the hands of pernicious perps. Whatever rules you impose on the vast majority of law abiding citizens will be ignored by the wackos or hard core criminals.

And it only takes one of them to do astounding damage.

With "party registrations" Chief Livingstone recently told the Amherst Zoning Board, "I'm guessing we're heading in that direction".  But he was quick to add it should be overseen by the Dean of Students office because he didn't think the students would voluntarily come to the Amherst Police Department to register their event.

Safe bet.

 Sober Shuttle for one 2/17 1:22 AM

Perhaps a reason why the 'Sober Shuttle' in downtown Amherst seems to be having a hard time attracting a whole lot of student ridership:  the presence of a uniformed UMPD officer.

Early Sunday morning the 1:20 AM shuttle had only one rider and the 2:00 AM shuttle, if it did show up, would have had zero. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

About 15 minutes before the new UMass "Sober Shuttle" picked up its first passenger in the heart of the downtown, Amherst Police took a potential killer off the road ... Belchertown Road (Rt 9) to be exact.

Stopped for "marked lanes violations" (i.e. all over the road) at 1:00 AM early Friday morning and then failing a Field Sobriety Test, police arrested Joshua D. Frank, 2 Birchwood Ave, Peabody, MA, age 23 for Marked Lanes Violation and Driving Under the Influence.

From now on let's hope Mr. Frank takes the Sober Shuttle.

#####

From the Salem News 2/5/11:

Police responded to an accident, with injuries, at Gardner Street at Seneca Road at midnight. A car driven by Joshua D. Frank of Peabody collided with a car driven by Jeana L. Bottari of Salem. Bottari was transported to the hospital.

Tipsy Transit Take Two

 Sober Shuttle 1:15 AM Amherst Town Center

So, like last weekend, the regular Sunderland bus arrived at 1:13 AM and picked up two dozen or more college aged passengers at the downtown bus stop in front of the Amherst Post Office.  As that bus was leaving, almost full, the first ever Sober Shuttle arrives 1:15 AM, almost empty (except for a police officer), and then left six or seven minutes later with less than a dozen passengers.

Most of this crowd boarded the regular Sunderland bus

Sunderland bus leaves town center with standing room only crowd 1:15 AM

The 2:00 AM Sober Shuttle also arrived a few minutes early, but picked up only one passenger at the town center Post Office stop.

The Republican reports

Back story in emails

Last Call (for tipsy transit)

UMass Hagis Mall drop off 2:08 AM early Sunday morning 

The UMass "Sober Shuttle", an after hours bus run from downtown Amherst back to campus, kicked off this weekend and by the looks of things -- a packed bus -- seemed successful.

But then, maiden voyages often are.

 A crowd of around 30 waits for 1:20 bus at Post Office town center 1:17 AM early Sunday

 
According to Student Government Association President Akshay Kapoor, “The truth is that there is only a very small segment of students who cause some, if any, disruptive behavior in our community, and it is my hope that this initiative will be another step by the university and its students to help reduce that problem and extend an olive branch to the town.”

Agreed.  Well, mostly.  Except the part about "if any" disruptive behavior.  If Mr. Kapoor is uncertain that any disruptive behavior can be traced to UMass students then he certainly has not been paying attention these past few years.  Or maybe just not reading this blog.  Or both.

My only fear is that the buses running late will encourage students to drink more. 

The other major problem we have with a minority of UMass students is ETOH calls (alcohol poisoning) tying up our ambulances, making them unavailable for other life threatening emergencies.

So making it safer and more comfortable for students to stay out even later, drinking, when just one more can put someone over the edge is certainly not going to help solve that part of the problem.

Sober Shuttle (Rt) bumps up against Sunderland Bus (left) 1:20 AM Sunday Town Center