Uber + Assumption College: Offering affordable student transport

The Worcester, Massachusetts-based college has partnered with Uber for Business to offer subsidized rides to the 2,000 students on its campus. Assumption College joins a growing number of colleges in New England that use Uber for Business to expand transportation options for students.

Under this new program, Assumption covers all or part of a student’s ride depending on the destination. The full round-trip cost is covered when a student attends a class at a partnering institution in the city, while the College will contribute $4 to the total cost of a student’s ride to select student hotspots around Worcester (including the train station, movie theater, and the popular Shrewsbury Street neighborhood featuring a number of trendy restaurants), as well as rides back to campus from anywhere in the city.

The return service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while the outbound service to select locations will be available between the hours of 2pm and 9pm every day.

The process is simple for students: they simply switch from personal accounts to their Assumption profiles in the Uber app when ordering a ride. Assumption College uses the full suite of tools available through Uber for Business to manage the program, including parameters for ride destinations, time of day, day of the week, and class of vehicle.

At just over a quarter square mile, Assumption College campus grounds are easily walkable between dorms, classes, dining halls, and administrative offices. However, getting around off campus was a struggle, as there is no fixed bus route that stops at or runs near the College.

Students who wanted or needed to leave campus had limited options. The campus is served by a free transportation program, but it only runs on weekends and is limited to only one location in the next town over. If students wanted to attend a performance, they would order their own rides via taxi or ride-sharing at full price.

 By adopting the Uber for Business platform for student transportation, Assumption College can offer reliable transportation to the people that matter most to them — their students.

According to Ian Burns, president of Assumption College’s Student Government Association, utilizing Uber for Business was a “natural fit,” as students already used Uber to get around Worcester.

“Students across campus are very excited to have this new program,” Burns said. “The ease of using Uber is making the city [of Worcester] more accessible than ever to Assumption students, and we are excited to see how the program will develop in the future.”