It is precisely 2:03 A.M. on Friday night in Athens, Georgia. The bars just closed down for the night, and with that comes scores of ill-prepared college students flooding onto the streets. Some were smart and arranged rides from friends or roommates; others now enter into a lottery to determine who will get to pay an exorbitant fee to be picked up by a stranger who is most likely on hour twelve of their shift and might not even work for the rideshare service they ordered from. For more than half of students aged 18–24, this situation is a regular fixture of their weekend activities.

Whether it's taking businessmen to the airport or transporting the horde of drunken teenagers home, Uber has made rider safety paramount to its organizational goals. In 2019, in response to the murder of Samantha Josephson, who unknowingly entered the car of her killer believing it to be her Uber, the company launched the "Uber Campus Safety Initiative" with the stated goal of building public awareness of ride-verification steps and supporting campus ride programs at major colleges across the country.

While public opinion on the safety of ridesharing services has more than doubled in recent years, from just under 25% in 2018 to well over 50% in 2022, many drivers report that Uber has not done enough to ensure the safety of their riders.

Austin Elliot, an Uber driver residing in Lawrenceville but doing weekend rides in Athens, has worked for the rideshare company as an independent contractor for about four years. "I have heard some horrible, horrible stories from people I've picked up over the years, stuff about having dudes follow girls into their apartments; people locking doors and going the wrong way; just some real bad stuff."

While Austin's claims aren't an indictment of the company on their own, many drivers report hearing similar stories from their passengers. Frank, who asked that his last name not be published, shared a similar anecdote: "This one girl told me about how another driver walked her to her apartment and was only stopped from going in by the girl's roommates, who thankfully were sober."

In response to Uber's campus safety initiative, both Austin and Frank didn't know what it entailed or even what it was. "Pretty much, it's been the same protocol the last four years," said Austin, adding that Uber is "pretty hands-off about that sort of stuff."

While Uber claims that 99.9% of its rides end without any safety incident, these secondhand anecdotes and harrowing testimonials about the dangers of ridesharing have made quite an impact on students in Athens through sheer word of mouth. One student, an Entertainment and Media Studies major at the University of Georgia, has completely cut Uber and Lyft from being staples of her weekend entertainment. "I have just heard some really bad stories from girls riding home," she said, adding that "half the time they make jokes out of, like, the worst thing you've ever heard" and "for a lot of people, I think they view creepy drivers as more of a nuisance than a real threat."

It is yet to be seen if any real change comes from Uber or in consumer habits. As of now, the streets of Athens are still filled with shadowy cars with their hazard lights on and drunk teenagers filling them like lifeboats on a sinking ship, and Uber, Lyft, and their competitors are still prioritizing college towns as a big part of their business strategies.