Despite student concerns about cost and a lack of advertising, almost 70 people used the university’s new taxi service in its first weekend, exceeding transportation officials’ expectations.

Even though Terp Taxi, a $5-a-ride weekend nighttime service, needs more than 40 riders a night to cover the cost of using its four minibuses, Transportation Services Director David Allen said he was “very pleased” about the turnout and said he expects more students to use the service once more people know about it.

Terp Taxi, which extends to a quarter-mile radius around the campus including stops already served by Shuttle-UM, attracted 69 total riders on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, including 20 rides the first night, Allen said. But if the service keeps averaging 20 rides a night, Transportation Services will have to get rid of one or more of the taxis, he said. The department plans to evaluate the service in the next few weeks.

Even though the department already put a full-page advertisement in The Diamondback and sent fliers to dorms and neighboring areas, the service depends most on good word of mouth, Allen said. Students have to like the service for it to succeed.

But for many, the $5 per ride the service charges to student accounts just wasn’t worth shelling out. Over and over, students who had never seen the taxis before would ask whether they could get a ride, only to walk away when they found out there was a charge. A group of callers changed their minds about using the service after they found out about the fee.

Many confused the service with N.I.T.E. Ride, a free shuttle service that performs a similar function.

But transportation officials are not considering making the service free because it’s meant to be for unusual situations, not for everyday use.

“If we make it too inexpensive, then why should we have all our resources in the fixed routes?” Allen asked. “We don’t want to make it super cheap, but we don’t want to make it out of the range of people who need it.”

The four minibuses, which seat 14 each, park in Lot 1, in Lot 16B by Leonardtown, on Berwyn House Road and by University Courtyard, waiting for calls. Riders have to show their student IDs and fill out a form before riding.

Students who did use the service said their biggest motivation was safety.

Rebecca Feldman, a freshman communication major, needed a ride from Knox Towers to her Worcester Hall dorm and she called Terp Taxi because she “didn’t want to walk alone,” she said.

Before this service, she would have a friend walk with her or wait 20 to 30 minutes for N.I.T.E. Ride, she said. But the cost was worth it to use Terp Taxi because she had to wait less than the 12 minute expected time of arrival, she said.

“I don’t think [the cost] is that bad,” Feldman said. “My parents don’t mind paying for it if it’s safer.”

The cost also didn’t bother Bryan Clyborne, a sophomore in the golf course management program who didn’t want to walk the 30 to 45 minutes back to his home from downtown College Park.

“The cost doesn’t matter to me as long as I get a safe ride home,” Clyborne said.

Contact reporter Kaitlyn Seith at seithdbk@gmail.com.