I am a graduate student at Tech, and I use the Stingerette on an almost daily basis. This letter is regarding the article about Stingerette services in the Technique two weeks back. The news about the Stingerette wait times was startling as I have never had wait times of more than five to ten minutes during the weekdays. On Friday nights and Saturday nights, there have been delays due to the large number of people traveling to parties and restaurants.
I have personally seen Stingerette drivers refusing service only to students who are extremely inebriated, unable to talk coherently and had to be supported by their friends. I do not see why refusing service to such students is not acceptable. I certainly do not want my fellow passengers to throw up in the van that I am traveling in.
In my experience of the past six months, I have never seen a driver refuse a ride because the distance was too short.
Also, there is no way to check if the person requesting a ride is a student at Tech. If you were concerned about this, you would have asked for a petition to implement a system where only Tech students can use this service. I have seen many students from other universities use the Stingerette to travel to and from parties at Tech.
In the future, I would request you to gather sufficient evidence and news about such incidents before spouting information based on false claims, as it hurts the people who provide such services.
Pavithra Chandramowlishwaran
PhD Student, BIO