Wed. Jan 22nd, 2025
Syracuse ‘Candy Man’ makes Uber rides sweeter for students.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Syracuse ‘Candy Man’ makes Uber rides sweeter for students

Marie Achkar: A local Uber driver has become a campus celebrity for many students at Syracuse University. But this driver in particular likes to make his rides a little sweeter.

Troy Boyer: I was just doing candy. You know what I mean? And it just took off.

Marie: When Troy Boyer started as an Uber driver in 2017, he wasn’t expecting the Dum-Dums and Life Savers in his car to be such a hit.

Troy: As soon as I started doing campus rides, the students said, ‘Hey you’re the Candy Man!’ They just started giving me that name, and basically, we just went with that.

Marie: And just like that, Boyer had a new nickname: “The Candy Man.”

Troy: I’m like, why not? I’ll just drive the campus, and we’ll have a ball with it.

Marie: Boyer takes his car out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. He says he spends around $200 a week to stock up his car with sweet treats. And while it’s fun, there’s another reason why Boyer drives around campus late at night.

Troy: I think it’s the joy of making sure that everybody’s safe. I have four kids. It’s a whole safety thing to me.

Marie: But Boyer doesn’t do it for the money. He says he does “rescue rides” about 25 times a week – which students don’t have to pay for.

Troy: Students know they can DM me on my Instagram. I’ll drive them home for free. I will finish whatever I’m doing. I will come get you and drive you home.

Marie: Some students say they’ve gotten the chance to ride with Boyer before.

Ben Jelinek: I got in, and I was a little bit starstruck actually. We were just telling him that he’s such a legend around campus, and we all respect him so much.

Marie: Others say the concept is a nice change of pace for students.

Jonathan Reuss: I know a lot of college students are not doing very well financially. We’re just eating ramen noodles every day. So having a candy bar here and there would be a good thing.

Marie: Boyer says he doesn’t plan to stop Uber driving any time soon. But he does plan to stock up on more candy this week. His main goal: for every student to get home safely at the end of the night.

Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — A local Uber driver is making an effort to prioritize students’ safety on campus. And he’s doing it in a fun and sweet way.

Troy Boyer became an Uber driver in 2017. At the time, the only candy he kept in his car were Dum-Dums and Life Savers. When Boyer started driving around the Syracuse University campus, he said the students started calling him the “Candy Man.” And just like that, Boyer’s nickname was born.

“The students helped me create the whole thing that I’m doing,” Boyer said. “The selection of candy –there was a marketing student that wanted me to put ‘Candy Man’ on the side of my car. The lights, the whole Halloween setup in there…it’s because of the students.”

When Boyer first started as an Uber driver, he picked up passengers from all over Central New York. But now, he only drives around Syracuse University every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

“I like the whole party atmosphere of what the campus brought,” Boyer said. “I was a DJ for 20 years, so I was able to bring that into my ride. You guys enjoyed it the most. And I’m like, why not? I’ll just drive the campus, and we’ll have a ball with it.”

Boyer said he spends around $200 a week to stock up his car with candy and other sweet treats. While it’s fun, there’s another reason why Boyer takes the time to drive around campus late at night.

“It’s the joy of making sure that everybody’s safe,” Boyer said. “I have four kids. Three daughters, particularly. So it’s a whole safety thing to me…if I saw my daughter up here walking by herself, I’d be like, ‘Get in the car, I’m driving you home.’…I just care.”

But Boyer doesn’t do it for the money. In fact, he said he does “rescue rides” about 25 times a week, and students don’t have to pay for these.

“Students know they can DM me on my Instagram. I’ll drive them home for free,” Boyer said. “Somebody might be walking by themselves…just DM me. I will finish whatever I’m doing. I will come get you and drive you home.”

Some students said they’ve gotten the chance to ride with Boyer before.

“I got in, and I was a little bit star-struck actually,” said Ben Jelinek, a student at Syracuse University. “We were just telling him that he’s such a legend around campus, and we all respect him so much…He really does save people in bad situations when they need to be Ubered home.”

Others said what Boyer is doing is a nice change of pace for students.

“I know a lot of college students are not doing very well financially,” said Jonathan Reuss, another student at Syracuse University. “We’re just eating ramen noodles every day, so having a candy bar here and there would be a good thing.”

Boyer said he doesn’t plan to stop buying candy or Uber driving any time soon.

“It’s because of the love everybody shows me,” Boyer said. “I’m not gonna change anything. Just keep doing what I’m doing.”