THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Monday, October 12, 2020
Vol. 130, No. 16
RamRide substitutes volunteer model with Lyft partnership
COLLEGIAN.COM
New deal provides students with an alternative way to travel around By Samantha Ye @samxye4
SLiCE and the Food Bank of Larimer County have come together for another year of C.A.N.S Around the Oval. PHOTO BY MATT TACKETT THE COLLEGIAN
C.A.N.S. Around the Oval provides food and fun By Maddy Erskine @maddyerskine_ The pandemic has added an extra level of anxiety and food insecurity for some Colorado State University students. Although not all traditions
can continue as normal, C.A.N.S. Around the Oval is one event that has proven particularly valuable. Thanks to hard work from the Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement office, C.A.N.S., a food and funds drive for the Food Bank of Larimer County, can continue.
“The fact (that) it’s a CSU tradition that was able to survive, thrive somehow through COVID(-19) is enabling people to have that kind of anchor to the season and an anchoring feel to tradition when we can’t really be together,” Senior Program Coordinator of Community Engagement Sarah Stephens said.
This collaboration of SLiCE and the Food Bank of Larimer County brings together Rams and the greater Fort Collins community with friendly competitions, donations and education about food insecurity. see C.A.N.S. on page 6 >>
All Colorado State University students have up to four discounted rides a month from Lyft this semester thanks to a RamRide partnership with the ride-hailing service. With COVID-19 nullifying RamRide’s traditional student volunteer model, this partnership still puts student fees toward giving students safe rides to where they need to go, said Lindsay Mason, director of Off-Campus Life. “I feel really confident that we’re offering a great service that’s of high value and good use of students’ fees,” Mason said. Students should have received an email from Lyft with a link to use a discount pass. Once activated, students anywhere in the U.S. can receive a 50% discount up to $10 on up to four standard Lyft or Lyft XL rides per month. For reference, a standard Lyft ride from Lory Student Center to Front Range Community College costs $9 to $12, according to Lyft’s fare estimator. The discount runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. It will go through Dec. 19 and be available during fall break and remote learning. All of this is separate from RamRide Food-Ops, which is driven by student employees. The hours and locations of the Lyft model are a significant expansion compared to RamRide’s old model, which recruited student volunteers to give free rides within Fort Collins. But financially speaking, the rides with Lyft are only subsidized, and students will have to pay the remaining charge themselves. see RAMRIDE on page 3 >>