DCTA partners with Lyft to provide free on-demand rides for UNT students
Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) and UNT recently entered a partnership with Lyft that provides UNT students with free rides from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. every day of the week. The partnership was launched on Aug. 17 and the promotional code will end on Dec. 15.
To use the program, UNT students who are at least 18 years of age can use the Lyft code UNTRIDEFALL18. The program offers free rides to students on campus, as well as surrounding streets including Fry Street, parts of Eagle Drive, West Hickory and others.
The coverage map for the Lyft rides around campus and surrounding areas.
Requirements and conditions of the promo code listed on the Lyft app.
The program is part of a 10 year contract between DCTA and UNT, which has an end goal of finding innovative ways and methods to keep UNT students safe and provide transportation for students in and around campus, DCTA communications manager Adrienne Hamilton said.
“We are always working with UNT to provide more useful and safe options for students when it comes to transportation,” Hamilton said. “UNT students should expect more services like this in the future from us under our contract.”
UNT also offers students after-hour ride services through e-ride. E-ride will continue to offer services concurrent with the new partnership.
Because e-ride stops offering rides at 2 a.m. the new partnership with Lyft will provide students with rides later in the evening or earlier in the morning before work or class.
“As with any service offered on campus, we hope to give the students the alternatives they need to have safe and reliable methods of transportation while they’re on UNT’s campus,” UNT Senior Communication Specialist Trista Moxely said. “It is [also] the most economical use of the student transportation fee, which has not increased in 15 years.”
Additionally, the merger will assist in decreasing the university’s carbon footprint and to utilize the transportation fee charged in student tuition and fees.
Students are offered 120 free, one-way trips with the promotional code and a new promotional code will be administrated each semester, according to the DCTA website.
The service will also be more accessible for students who stay out late and do not have access to a car while living on or in certain areas of campus that are within the coverage map.
Marketing sophomore Carina Mendez said the partnership will be beneficial for her.
“It will make things easier for me as student when I’m studying late at Willis and need a ride home or when I have to be at work at 6:45 a.m.,” Mendez said. “It will be nice that it will be on-demand and through a service like Lyft, which I already use.”
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