The Triton Taxi service will no longer pick up students at the San Ysidro border due to a decision by Cloud 9 Shuttles to discontinue the practice, Commissioner of Student Services Kelly Vasant reported at the A.S. Council¹s first meeting on Oct. 1.

Vasant said that she found out about the situation too late to do anything about it.

“”A couple days before I signed the contract [on zero week], I found that they didn¹t want to [pick students up at the border],”” she said.

Vasant believed one of the reasons that the company no longer wanted to pick up students at that location was the high risk for drivers going all the way down to Tijuana to bring students back on campus.

“”It was too sketchy,”” Vasant said.

In addition, Cloud 9 guaranteed two shuttles to pick students up at various places each weekend; if one shuttle went to TJ while the other shuttle went to all the other sites where Triton Taxi runs to pick students up, it would “”cause a lot of stress for the driver,”” Vasant said.

Nonetheless, Vasant says that she will continue to talk to Cloud 9 to see what she could do to get Triton Taxi to make runs to the border.

Cloud 9 Shuttle was unavailable for comment by press time.

The A.S. Council will attempt to improve Triton Taxi in the next year, according to Vasant.

“”We¹re projecting a bigger budget for Triton Taxi to get to the border,”” she said. “”We are also looking to get sponsored.””

The A.S. Council has already been approached by one other company, according to Vasant.

With a bigger budget, the A.S. Council may be able to afford a different shuttle company that may be able to take students back from the San Ysidro border.

The council has been debating between two shuttles to sign on this year: Cloud 9 or the Yellow Cab of San Diego.

They have found Cloud 9 to charge per hour while Yellow Cab charges per mile, which is “”much cheaper considering that on average, each student uses about five miles,”” Vasant said.

Triton Taxi is a free shuttle service operated by Cloud Nine that runs on Friday and Saturday nights from 11p.m. to 3 a.m.

Although the shuttle no longer makes runs to the border, students may still take it to other local surroundings such as San Diego State University, Hillcrest and downtown San Diego.

Nonetheless, many students are disappointed that the taxi no longer makes runs down to the border.

“”It¹s pretty lame because lots of people go to TJ and get hammered and they have to find a way home,”” said Eleanor Roosevelt College sophomore Ryan Wilson.

Thurgood Marshall College junior Taibat Sallahdeen agreed with Wilson.

“”Lots of people get drunk after partying at TJ and they need a ride back home,”” she said. “”It was definitely a good thing they had it and it¹s a pity that it¹s gone.””