What we keep

Campus Ride is run by a student, on a small server, for students. This page says exactly what it stores, who can see it, and which other companies get told anything. It is written in plain language on purpose.

What you tell us

When you sign up and use the app, this is kept against your account:

Your university email address, name, campus and department.
Your gender, and whether you want to be matched only with students of the same gender.
Your phone number, and an emergency contact number if you give one.
If you offer seats: your bike model, number plate, licence number, how long you have been riding, and whether you carry a spare helmet.
The places you travel between, as map pins, with the names you give them.
Your journeys — where to, where from, which days, what time.
Every ride you agree to, who it was with, and how it ended.

What the app works out on its own

When you save a journey, the app asks a routing service for the road between your two points, then chops that road into a chain of roughly 150-metre squares. Matching happens on those squares: you are shown someone only if the point you are standing at and the point you are getting off at are both on their road, in that order.

Those squares never leave the server. No page and no part of the app ever sends them to another student.

The line that is drawn on a map has the last 700 metres at each home end removed, measured along the road. That is why nobody can use this app to work out where you live. The only person who ever sees a route drawn is the person whose route it is.

Your ID photo and selfie

Both photos are kept on file after the check. They are stored outside the public folder, so no link to them exists on the internet, and only the administrator can open them. They are held for one reason: so that if somebody is reported for something serious, there is a way to work out who they really were. They are never shown to another student and never published.

This is a real trade and worth being clear about rather than burying. Keeping them means government ID and a face for every rider who ever signed up sits on this server for as long as the site exists. It is kept because a report about somebody who has since changed their name and number is close to impossible to act on with nothing but a yes or no on file. The app tells you this on the screen where the photo is taken, in the same words.

Who can see what

Other students see your first name, your campus, and how many rides you have completed — a count, not a score; nobody rates anybody here. Once you have both agreed, they also see your phone number. A rider's bike and number plate are shown to the person riding with them.
Anyone holding a ride's share link sees both first names, the bike, the number plate, the university and when you set off. It deliberately carries no phone number, no pickup point and no map, because it is a link that can be forwarded.
The administrator can see everything above, plus the ID photos, reports and the record of rides. That is one person.
Nobody browses a list of pillions. Students needing a lift are only ever visible while they have actively put themselves on the board, and that expires.

Companies outside this site

Using the app means these are contacted. They are the only ones.

OpenRouteService — asked for the road between two points when a journey is first saved. It receives the actual start and end coordinates of that journey. Because answers are re-used for everyone starting in the same 150-metre square, it is usually only asked once per neighbourhood rather than once per student — but the first request for a given pair does carry real pins.
Stadia Maps — draws the map and powers place search. Your browser talks to it directly, so it sees your IP address and what you type into the search box.
A push notification service (Google's, or Apple's on an iPhone) — if you turn notifications on. It carries the message to your phone.
Email — sign-in codes and ride notices leave through the mail service this site uses.

What never happens

The app has no way to take a payment. No wallet, no card, no commission.
Nothing is sold, shared or handed to advertisers. There are no adverts and no tracking pixels.
There is no in-app chat, so no messages between students exist to be read.
Your exact home pin is never shown to anybody.

Getting your account deleted

Ask, and it goes — the account, the places, the journeys, the ride history and the photos. Email the address on the rules page from the university address you signed up with, so it is clear the request is yours.

One exception, and it is deliberate: if you are the subject of an open report, the photos are held until that is resolved. Otherwise deleting an account would be a way to escape one.

Staying safe