BY DYLON CHOW

In print | Published October 30, 2008

In response to requests to extend the campus shuttle to the weekends, the shuttle will now run on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The shuttle serves Mary Lyon, Palmer, Pittenger, Roberts and Strath Haven.

Several people sent suggestions that the shuttle run on weekends after the first few weeks of the semester. In the first couple of weeks of school, many drivers did not show up during their shifts, leading to a lack of drivers. The arrival of shuttles leaving from off-campus dorms was unpredictable, according to Wesley Edwards ’12, an ML resident. “You had to just wait for whenever the shuttles came,” he said.

In response, Fletcher Coleman ’09, Manager of the Student Budget Committee, sent an e-mail to the student body apologizing and asking for suggestions. He received e-mails requesting that the shuttle be made available on the weekends.

It took several weeks to secure drivers for the new Saturday shuttle and to gain approval from the SBC. “It’s really hard to hire van drivers,” Coleman said. He mentioned that van drivers for the Saturday ML/PPR shuttle have to be willing to show up on time on Saturday mornings. It also took a few weeks for Coleman to calculate the expected costs to run the shuttle and to gain approval from the SBC. The decision in favor of the Saturday shuttle was made about a week and a half before October break.

Gabriela Moats ’12, an ML resident who has not yet taken the Saturday shuttle, hopes that the shuttle will run more efficiently than it had at the beginning of the school year. “It’s kind of a drag when it comes too early or too late,” she said.

Nonetheless, with enough student drivers, the shuttles are expected to be more regular than they had been at first. “We look forward to all our shuttles continuing to run smoothly,” Coleman said in an e-mail sent out to the student body.

However, Moats does not expect to use the Saturday shuttle often, mentioning that she has no intention of leaving her dorm on Saturday morning. “I eat breakfast here,” she said. “Most people from Mary Lyon would not go to Sharples for breakfast on Saturday morning,” she said. “It seems like most people taking the shuttle would be people on campus going to ML for the ML breakfast.”
The availability of the weekend shuttle might increase the popularity of the weekly ML breakfast, which happens every Saturday. According to Michael Xu ’11, an ML Student Academic Mentor, about half of the people who attend ML breakfast are from dorms other than ML.

“In terms of convenience, it’s great,” Xu said. When the weather is unfavorable, the shuttle makes getting back to ML much more comfortable. The shuttle also makes it possible to get to campus more easily, a benefit to ML residents who want to go to campus for any reason. “I think it’s a great idea,” Edwards said. “It just gives you more options.”

Some students have criticized the service, saying that it is not worth the cost of running the shuttle. Xu said that many of those who would not use the Saturday shuttle may find it a bad use of the SBC’s money. “I think it’s true for all kinds of campus events also,” he said. “The events will benefit some people but not others.”

“I most likely won’t use the shuttle,” Genevieve McGahey ’12, another ML resident, said. She said that the shuttle will be convenient for her if she does decide to go on campus on Saturday morning. “It’s really nice that they provide the service, because the weather may not be good and we have time to sleep in.”

Some students mentioned that having the shuttle run on Sunday morning, when ML breakfast isn’t served, would also be a good idea. “If you want to get brunch, you have to walk, and if you have nothing else to do, you just walk back,” Xu said. He also mentioned that it would be nice to have the shuttle run during the day, but that it may not be feasible due to the cost. “If [the shuttle] did run on Saturday afternoons, I’d probably take it,” McGahey said.

For the moment, the Saturday shuttle is a test-run. Coleman and the SBC will wait to see if students use the Saturday shuttle before extending the shuttle service throughout the year, Coleman said. Accordingly, if the shuttle is not popular, the service might be terminated. “We’ll just have to wait and see,” McGahey said.

In the meantime, several ML residents, like Xu, have taken advantage of the Saturday shuttle and plan to continue doing so. “For me, it’s great,” he said.

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