The walk of shame is a commonly used expression by college students to describe the trek from a late-night hookup’s apartment across campus to one’s dorm room, clad in last night’s clothes.

Kellyann Wargo, a senior at the University of Michigan, found a way to profit off of these notorious walks by creating the Walk of Shame Shuttle to transport Michigan students after their late-night escapades.

Wargo said she got the idea for her walk of shame project after receiving frequent calls from friends at all hours of the morning asking her to pick them up from places around campus. To repay her for the rides, Wargo said her friends would buy her breakfast.

‘I was getting breakfast paid for around three times a week, and I said, ‘I can’t keep eating breakfast like this, can you just start giving me money?” Wargo said. ‘And then, there was this moment where I thought, ‘If I’m making money off of you, I can probably make money off of other people.”

Wargo created a flier for the shuttle and posted it on Facebook on Jan 16. The flier was then posted on BroBible.com and subsequently went viral.

Since the idea’s fruition, Wargo said she has had to put the project on hold to work on the logistical side of the business.

Wargo said she went to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office to get her chauffeur’s license, which she needs to run the business. She said she is working on obtaining her small business license and copyrighting her business.

To promote the Walk of Shame Shuttle, Wargo said she made a business card and a ‘frequent users’ card. She said a company is also designing a website for her, free of charge.

Because Wargo only has her chauffeur’s license and is not an official taxi driver, she cannot charge more than a suggested rate of $5 per ride and can only accept cash for her services, she said.

As of now, Wargo is the only driver for the Walk of Shame Shuttle. The shuttle travels anywhere in the town of Ann Arbor, where U of M is located.

Along with the ride, Walk of Shame Shuttle passengers get a water bottle, a $5 coupon for Plan B and a complimentary high-five, Wargo said.

In terms of clientele, Wargo said many of the same girls, some of whom are acquaintances, use her service. Wargo said she will start promoting the business campus-wide after the university’s spring break, which is next week.

Wargo said she hopes to make the business a staple for ‘morning-after’ travel in Ann Arbor.

‘I want to get it up and running in Ann Arbor right now,’ Wargo said. ‘My goal is to have someone buy it off me and franchise it. I don’t want to run this business for years and years. It’s a short-term goal right now.’

Sylvia Lorenzini, a sophomore at U of M, said that because of the size of the school’s campus, taxis can take a long time to pick students up. Plus, she said, students won’t want to pay for one.

Lorenzini said she thinks a lot of people will use Wargo’s shuttle service because it is convenient.

‘It’s such a smart idea,’ she said. ‘It’s the most creative and useful thing that anyone could think of.’

dspearl@syr.edu 

Published on February 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Diana: dspearl@syr.edu | @dianapearl_