Wildcat Wheels is officially celebrating 20 years of service, marking two decades of providing students with a safe, free and reliable way to get home.
The program first launched on February 10, 2005, and has since become a weekend staple for the Wayne State College community.
The idea for Wildcat Wheels was born out of a genuine concern for student safety. Years before its launch, Security Officer Jason Mrsny (now Security Manager) and Criminal Justice Professor Jason Karsky served on the Alcohol Awareness Week Committee, which later became the TRUST Coalition (Towards Responsible Use of Substances Today). A sobering statistic from 2003 revealed that drunk driving in Wayne County was 22% higher than the national average. That was the tipping point. Mrsny, Karsky and then-counselor Kathy Mohl Feld, knew something had to be done.
Inspired by similar programs at other campuses, including a visit from the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s safe ride team, the TRUST Coalition worked for years to turn their vision into reality. While the process wasn’t easy, they persevered while navigating legal concerns, liability issues and funding obstacles . What started as a rough idea eventually evolved into Wildcat Wheels, a name chosen over the original, and more controversial, “Tipsy Taxi.” This change was made to reflect the broader goal of serving all students, not just those who had been drinking.
Today, Wildcat Wheels operates Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., offering free rides to students via a partnership with Norfolk’s Checker Cab. A team of five student workers handles calls and dispatches rides, ensuring smooth operations and timely pickups.
“All in all, Wildcat Wheels is an amazing service for our students and a great work environment,” Bailey Howland, an employee at Wildcat Wheels, said. “All of the five student workers and I really enjoy our jobs.”
The service has grown significantly. 295 students used it in just the first eight nights back in 2005, and thousands more since then. Students now use Wildcat Wheels not only after nights out but also for getting food, getting home from work or visiting friends off campus.
“Personally, I joined Wildcat Wheels for the money, but I stayed because I loved the relationships that I have built with our drivers as well as our frequent callers,” Howland said. “The people are nice, and the stories we have are even funnier.”
For founders like Mrsny and Karsky, seeing the program thrive is a source of pride.
They said it’s surreal to think some of the students using Wildcat Wheels today weren’t even born when they started.
Their advice for students wanting to make a difference was to “reach for the stars, but have a backup plan.”
