Drivers of the blue-and-yellow vans carrying Bruins around UCLA and Westwood have something in common with many of their passengers: They are often students, too.

The 20 to 25 student drivers are among a larger group of staffers who operate vans for BruinAccess and SafeRide, two UCLA Transportation services that provide curb-to-curb rides around campus and Westwood.

BruinAccess provides free rides to UCLA students and employees with temporary or permanent mobility issues. SafeRide operates Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight during the academic year and uses the same ADA-compliant vans. All UCLA students, faculty and visitors can use SafeRide to navigate campus and nearby residential areas.

BruinAccess faced budget cuts during the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to a March 2025 Undergraduate Students Association Council resolution, which officers passed to call for an external audit of the service.

[Related: USAC passes resolution for increased funding toward BruinAccess transportation]

The university does not expect reductions to BruinAccess or SafeRide services during the 2026-27 academic year, a UCLA Transportation spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Drivers complete a three-week training that involves shadowing experienced drivers, learning routes, practicing the wheelchair-lift operation, completing online courses and passing a driving test, said Lizeth Solis, a fourth-year sociology student who started working as a driver this summer.

Seng En Choy, a driver since 2024, said he works about five hours every week during the school year and between 16 and 20 hours a week during the summer. In between rides, drivers wait until a passenger requests a pickup through the TripShot app, a navigation and transit management app, Solis said.

The all-electric vans are stored and charged near Veteran Avenue, where each shift begins, she added.

Vans operate south of Sunset Boulevard, east of Veteran Avenue, north of Wilshire Boulevard and west of Hilgard Avenue. Navigating through Westwood as a van driver can often feel more stressful than driving in other areas because of increased traffic, said En Choy, a fourth-year electrical engineering student.

“It seems easy because we’re just driving, but driving around Westwood is much harder than driving on the outside,” he said.

BruinAccess and SafeRide drivers complete upward of 500 trips per week, said Aiesha Broussard, the assistant general manager for UCLA BruinBus Transit and BruinAccess, in an emailed statement.

As a transfer student living in De Neve Holly last year, Solis said she watched buses and vans travel up and down the Hill and wondered how they operated. She added that her favorite part of the job is creating friendships with older staff members she would not have met without UCLA Transportation.

Solis said one driver grew up in the same hometown in Oxnard, California, giving them an unexpected connection. Solis also enjoys chatting with passengers to make them comfortable, she added.

“It’s just like a little community,” she said.

Student drivers have the ability to help other student passengers feel safe, Broussard said in her statement.

Solis said she hopes passengers remember the students behind the wheels.

“I feel rewarded in some kind of way, like I’m helping a community, making sure that they feel safe,” she said.