![\"An](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_4367_UCTedit-300x225.jpg\")
This semester, there are roughly 400 students and staff who rely on the service. The vans serve the entirety of the UConn Storrs campus and up to one mile off campus. There are 231 pickup and drop-off points, says Dang. An interactive map with all pickup locations is provided via QR code to the passengers so they can pinpoint exactly where the best spot is for their next ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides a significant peace of mind for the folks who use the service, so they don\u2019t have to worry about being able to be full participants in the college experience,\u201d says Kelly.<\/p>\n
There are about 40 employees with the service, the majority of who are students. The program is completely facilitated through student managers Ryan Dang and Nicole Corkery \u201925 (CLAS).\u00a0 Eight full-time employees staffed by WRTD also keep the ship running.<\/p>\n
Student drivers enjoy connecting with their peers on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking sure you greet passengers when they get in the van is big,\u201d says Shealyn Docker \u201925 (CLAS), AVS driver. \u201cJust so that they feel comfortable and that they\u2019re welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Docker has been working for AVS for three school years and loves the job. She explained how she has built relationships with many of the passengers, and she looks forward to driving them every day. Docker mentioned one passenger she would drive to and from work. \u201cHe always talked to me about his granddaughter and his children, how work is going, and how he\u2019s super grateful that I drive him. I miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many of the passengers, AVS is the primary means of transportation. The service runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Drivers understand the importance of their work and are often eager to pick up shifts to make sure each passenger’s accommodation is met.<\/p>\n
Students can find eligibility for the service by connecting with the Center for Students with Disabilities. University staff can contact HR to see if they meet the needs for accommodation.<\/p>\n There are five vans with wheelchair ramps, and the rest do not have wheelchair accessibility. One goal Kelly has for AVS is to upgrade the entire fleet to have ramps. When each van has a ramp, it will put the service in a place to better provide the right level of service for the right people, says Kelly.<\/p>\n Other qualities that ensure safety and accessibility include strobe lights on vans for visually impaired passengers and backup cameras. Drivers are required to always wear a high-visibility vest and drive with headlights on at all times of day. They are also trained to know the campus like the back of their hand, so they can make the experience for the passengers as seamless as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cAVS allows people to live where they want on campus and still maintain the same level of presence as any other student,\u201d says Dang. \u201cIt makes them feel like any other person on campus. It doesn\u2019t make them feel like an outsider.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘AVS allows people to live where they want on campus and still maintain the same level of presence as any other student’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":224525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2461,99,2235,2225,2306,2458,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-224632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-voices","category-undergraduates","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 05:51:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224632"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225031,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224632\/revisions\/225031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/224525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224632"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=224632"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=224632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_4385_UCTedit-300x225.jpg\")