Emergency Ride Home (ERH) is a commuting support service for UW employees who choose an alternative to driving alone to campus. It is a safety net to reassure those who use alternative modes that they won’t be stranded on an emergency.
In an emergency, employees may use a voucher or code to cover the cost of a cab ride home from the campus area.
Any employee who does not drive to work—including people who vanpool, carpool, bus, bike, walk, and/or use a park and ride—is eligible for ERH.
ERH is available from 6 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday. Program restrictions help reduce single occupancy vehicle trips to and from the campus area.
Use and Restrictions
Appropriate requests for ERH:
- Employee gets sick while at work
- Employee’s family member becomes sick or injured while employee is at work
- A personal crisis occurs (e.g. death in the family, extensive property damage or loss, etc.)
Inappropriate requests for ERH:
- Employee needs to run personal errands
- Employee needs transportation from events that are planned in advance, such as after-hours meetings
- A school cancellation/closing occurs (in most cases)
- Employee’s vehicle breaks down
- Employee has to work overtime
- In general, any situation of which there was prior knowledge
Transportation Services reserves the right to review a request to determine emergency status. We have no control over the response time of a cab or fleet vehicle; customers should confirm these details when they request the service.
Restrictions
ERH can be used up to three times every six months. Overuse/abuse of ERH may endanger this program, so requests will be carefully reviewed by Transportation Services. We reserve the right to rule requests for rides inappropriate regardless of any prior judgments.
See the emergency ride home policy for full process details and restrictions.
How to Use an Emergency Ride Home
Since you must present a ERH voucher (PDF) to the cab driver in order to use the ERH service, we highly recommend printing out a voucher now and keeping it at your desk (or other easily accessible location). This way you will not need to go online and print the voucher when you’re in a hurry due to the emergency situation. UW Transportation Services cannot refund cab fare paid by an employee directly.
- View/Print Emergency Ride Home Voucher (PDF)
- Request a taxi by calling Union Cab at (608) 242-2000 or order a Union Cab online; be sure to inform them you are requesting a UW Emergency Ride Home. (Please note: UW’s ERH is not currently available with other cab companies.)
- Present a completed voucher to the cab driver at the time of the ride. Do not pay for the ride, you will not be reimbursed. Any gratuity fee is the responsibility of the rider.
Transportation Services reserves the right to review a request to determine emergency status. Ineligible requests for an emergency ride home will be denied and the cab fare will be the responsibility of the user.