New Prepaid Program Gets College Kids Safe Rides Home

Store Financial announced that it has teamed up with Home Safe Card to launch a prepaid card that encourages a safe ride home for students, families, and business travelers, according to a company release. The University of Tampa is piloting the program, with Store Financial as the program manager and processor, and with the hope that more universities will then adopt the program.

Home Safe Card’s goal is to prevent drunk driving accidents and encourage safe transportation, and provides a prepaid card that only can be redeemed for taxi fare, mass-transit fare, rental car fees, airline tickets, and other transportation methods.

“Drunk driving is one of the most preventable problems our nation faces, yet it accounts for more than 30 percent of traffic fatalities, claims the lives of more than 10,000 people and costs more than $50 billion in damages each year,” said Tampa police officer Perry Anderson, who created Home Safe Card, in the release. The company mission, he said, “is to reduce those numbers as much as possible.”

The program runs on Store Financial’s controlled redemption platform, enabling clients to choose their network of merchants and control the use of the card. Store Financial, said Anderson, has a “proven track record for connecting specific groups of merchants through prepaid card programs,” and that the Home Safe Card will allow students to pay only for transportation, ensuring a safe ride home.