File Photo: Getting home from campus late at night is a struggle for many students at CU. (Kai Casey/CU Independent)
Alexia: Hi! I’m Alexia Bailey, a sophomore here at CU Boulder. While I may just be in my second year, I’m here to share everything I’ve picked up so far, which is a surprising amount of information. “What’s Eating at Alexia” is my unofficial and unfiltered guide to some of the things that being a CU Boulder Buff brings. Think of it as your guide to navigating everything that makes CU Boulder, well, CU Boulder. Whether you’re a freshman finding your footing or a senior with “no body, no crime” level grievances about finals week, I’m here to share my takes, tips and honest observations on everything from the sometimes-unpredictable Buff Bus system to navigating campus protests (or dodging them entirely). College is a wild, unforgettable ride, and “What’s eating at Alexia” is here to make sense of some of it, one opinion at a time.
Whether we like it or not, the University of Colorado Boulder is widely considered to be a party school. Of course, CU may not have the same reputation as some larger state schools, but late nights, off-campus parties and weekend social scenes are still a defining part of student life. Yet once the night winds down, students are left with a familiar problem: getting home safely.
For a university that emphasizes student well-being and safety, CU’s lack of reliable late-night transportation leaves too many students to fend for themselves. When buses stop running early and alternative options are limited, students are forced to choose between expensive ride-shares, long walks in the dark or unsafe improvisation. Safety becomes less of a priority and more of a gamble.
At CU, students realistically have quite a few options for getting home at night.
The first is VIA buses, the late-night Will Vill bus service. According to CU’s Parking and Transportation department, buses run Thursday through Saturday from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and are provided by Via Mobility Services. They are the small black buses labeled “Via” that run between Williams Village, Bear Creek and Main Campus. While this service is helpful in theory, it does not actually run to Bear Creek Apartments, leaving a large group of students without coverage and narrowing an already limited option. Yes, Bear Creek is only about a five-minute walk from the Will Vill stop. But transportation access should not be measured by how short a walk appears on a map. Late at night, in the dark, in winter conditions, or for students with mobility limitations, injuries or disabilities, that five-minute walk can be a real barrier. When a service is designed to support late-night safety and mobility, even small gaps in coverage matter. The existing approach assumes that all students move through campus the same way and with the same physical ability, which simply is not the case. If CU wants to frame VIA buses as a solution for late-night transportation, the service must account for accessibility, not just proximity.
Another option is CU NightRide, a service I have previously worked for. During the winter, NightRide runs Sunday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Recently, the nighttime service has been under fire from students due to long wait times, often attributed to low staffing. While this frustration is understandable, much of the criticism is misplaced. NightRide’s delays are not the result of indifference or poor execution, but of limited resources and an over reliance on student labor. The service is attempting to meet campus-wide demand with a small fleet and a workforce made up entirely of students who balance classes, jobs and their own transportation challenges.
In many ways, NightRide is doing exactly what it was designed to do, providing a safer alternative to walking alone at night, but it is being asked to compensate for broader gaps in CU’s late-night transportation system. When other options shut down early, pressure is placed on NightRide to function as a catch-all solution, something it was never structured or funded to handle. Criticizing the service without addressing these larger limitations overlooks the fact that NightRide is not the problem; it is actually just one of the few systems still trying to fill the gap. In fact, on weekends, NightRide runs later than the VIA buses, meaning that NightRide drivers are responsible for finding their own way home once their shifts end, often late at night and on weekends. I believe that this highlights a broader issue of how CU’s late-night transportation system is built on the assumption that students will simply “figure it out.” NightRide is an awesome program, yet I worry for the student workers who have to “figure it out” after their shift ends.
Students can also rely on city-run RTD buses, but most RTD routes stop running around 10 p.m., with only a handful operating until midnight. For students coming back from late-night study sessions, work shifts, campus events or off-campus housing, RTD is rarely a reliable option.
Then there are Lime scooters and BCycle e-bikes. While the electric scooters cost money, CU students and employees receive unlimited e-bike trips for up to 60 minutes, according to Parking and Transportation. This program is genuinely helpful and environmentally conscious, but it assumes that students are comfortable biking late at night, often alone, in the dark and in unpredictable weather. Also, I’m not going to name names here, but some students are unable to ride bikes or scooters. Dearest readers, transportation access should not depend on physical ability, confidence or tolerance for risk.
The final option is paying for a Lyft, Uber or simply just walking.
For many students, walking long distances late at night becomes the default, not because it is safe, but because it is free and available. This disproportionately affects students without cars, lower-income students and those living farther from campus. It also affects women and gender-marginalized students who are repeatedly told to “be careful” without being given meaningful infrastructure to support that caution.
This issue is often dismissed as being about partying, but that framing misses the point entirely. Students are out late for many reasons that have nothing to do with alcohol: night classes, jobs, campus events, studying, athletics and social activities that are simply part of college life. A university cannot promote engagement, involvement and responsibility while ignoring how students get home afterward. CU invests heavily in messaging around safety, consent and community care. But safety cannot stop at awareness campaigns and posters. It requires systems that work when students actually need them, like after dark, on weekends and across all areas of student housing.
This is not a call for perfection or unrealistic expectations. It is a call for consistency. Expanded late-night bus routes, longer operating hours and clearer communication about transportation options would go a long way. If CU wants to take student safety seriously, it has to look beyond daylight hours. Because safety should not depend on how much money you have, how far you live or how fast you can walk home.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Alexia Bailey at alexia.bailey@colorado.edu
