Community Living is providing a shuttle to take students to four different stops, according to Elizabeth Ching-Bush, director of community living.
“One of the reasons why we are doing this is to encourage our students to not drive to campus during the day, because obviously there is a lack of parking. It has become harder for students to find parking,” Ching-Bush said. “We see students circling and circling, being late to class and wasting gas when there is an opportunity for people to walk, bike and now also take the shuttle.”
According to Ching-Bush, students should not waste money on gas or time.
If any student is at the stop and there is no shuttle there, they can call Campus Safety and let them know at which stop the student is located to be picked up.
“Especially at the beginning, students may not be using it as much, or there is no one at a different stop, they will be sitting here [the office of Lake Hollingsworth Apartment] the majority of the time and wait to be able to shuttle people. But they are going to run the circle consecutively for a while, until students get the trend of using it,” Ching-Bush said.
Andy Pettit, safety and security officer, drives the new shuttle from Lake Hollingsworth Apartments around campus.
Even though the shuttle is not filled up, they will take whoever is inside the shuttle. The loop takes 10 minutes, so the longest a person will be waiting is 10 minutes.
“As long as you are timely you will be fine,” Ching-Bush said.
Alyssa Kirby, a senior student, prefers to use her car.
“I want to say yes [to use the shuttle], but sometimes I feel like it’s more convenient to use my car because then I can go off my schedule,” Kirby said.
The shuttle service begins at 7:30 a.m. and finishes at 3:30 p.m.
Lake Hollingsworth Apartment is stop A, circle drive in front of Wynee’s Bistro is stop B, circle drive in front of Branscomb Auditorium is stop C and between Roux Library and Rogers Auditorium, the parking lot side, is stop D.
“We are hoping it will work. This is just more for the students, we don’t gain much from this,” Ching-Bush said. “Hopefully students will utilize it. I think there are more students here that might take advantage of it [Lake Hollingsworth Apartments] than, say at other locations.”
The top reasons to take the shuttle are, according to Community Living: to save money, not waste students’ time in finding spots for their cars, help the environment and students might enjoy being chauffeured.
“I don’t know how perfect it is going to match with everybody’s schedule. I do not know if is going to match your expectations as an individual, but we will try our best to be as accommodating as possible,” Ching-Bush said.
