Giddy-up service returned to campus at the start of the fall semester under new management from Park ‘N Pony. (John Schreiber)

An old SMU service has been brought back to keep students safe at night. Giddy-up, an escort service, is in operation on Thursdays through Sundays from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

The Giddy-Up service offers students a free ride in a Giddy-Up golf cart from one area on campus to another. Students call the SMU police department and tell the operator where they need to be picked up, and Giddy-Up is dispatched afterward.

“It’s good if it’s raining or you don’t want to walk at night,” said sophomore Stephanie Markman.

When Giddy-Up is not in service, students can still be escorted at night by calling the same phone number and receiving an SMU PD escort.

Giddy-Up was once under SMU PD, but the drivers were students.

“Many students were complaining about not being safe on campus,” said Katherine Tullos, student body president. “Especially if they were walking back from Moody or the Airline parking garages to their sorority houses or residence halls.”

Those complaints are why Tullos made Giddy-Up part of her platform. She and former president Taylor Russ began working on the issue during the summer of 2006. When she called to check on the service in the spring of 2007, she was informed that there were no students who signed up to be drivers.

After Student Senate addressed student concerns about the issue, as well as a need for restructuring the service, the police department transferred the service to the Park ‘N Pony office.

“It lets police officers be able to do more police work instead of escort,” said Mark Rhodes, director of Park ‘N Pony.

Now, Park ‘N Pony outsources and hires the drivers to ensure there will always be two drivers during the hours of operation.

“Our primary objective is to get it up and running and be consistent,” said Rhodes. “We have been successful at posting hours and sticking to it.”

Tullos agreed, saying that she has heard positive feedback from both students and administration. Giddy-Up’s first day of the semester was August 18th for Mustang Corral Move-In, and it received 357 phone calls. In the first week of operation, not including move-in days, Giddy-Up received 837 calls.

Markman used Giddy-Up around 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9, to get a ride from Moody parking garage back to her sorority house. She waited for five minutes before Giddy-Up pulled into the parking lot outside the garage.

“I was impressed with the response time. I thought we were going to be waiting for 20 to 30 minutes,” she said.

Even though she had a good experience, Markman thinks it’s not perfect.

“There’s still the problem of standing in a parking garage by yourself,” she said. There’s always going to be lag time. Luckily, now it’s shorter.”

Giddy-Up is still being evaluated and perfected. Student Senate is working to extend the operation of hours to make it a nightly service. Since this is the first year Giddy-Up has been under Park ‘N Pony, it will evaluate its service and identify areas where additional accommodations are needed. The evaluations will be based on student feedback, suggestions given by Student Senate, and how many police escorts are used when Giddy-Up is not in service.

“Student feedback is very important at this juncture,” said Rhodes.

Students who need a Giddy-Up ride can call (214) 768-3388.