Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited post-publication; the walk from ML to campus was initially described as a “thirty minute walk,” the version the first comments were responding to.
Beginning this past weekend, Student Budget Committee extended the campus shuttle service to run on Saturdays from 10 am-12. Currently, the mornings shuttle runs on weekday 8am-9:30 and Public Safety operates an evening shuttle that runs from 6 pm until 2 am. Both shuttles serve Palmer, Pittenger, Roberts, Strath Haven and Mary Lyon.
The idea stemmed from an all-campus request from SBC for constructive criticism about the shuttle service. In response, SBC Manager Fletcher Coleman ’09 received several responses requesting weekend shuttle service.
Jong Hsien Lim ’12, an ML resident, instigated the idea because of the long walk necessitated to study on campus or attend events.
The cost for shuttle maintenance is paid by the revenue earned from renting shuttles to student groups. Cost for additional labor was budgeted for $200, which Coleman believed was a reasonable addition for the service.
Although Coleman has not yet received formal feedback from students, Lim said the shuttle also benefits the campus. “It won’t make ML as isolated as it seems to be. More people will come to ML to get their Saturday breakfast and see what ML is all about,” he said.
I was going to let this slide without giving in to my desire to post an overly bitter comment, but "thirty-minute walk [to campus]" is the most patently ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I walk two miles (that's one way, mind you!) every day to my campus, and I can do THAT in thirty minutes fighting oncoming pedestrian traffic and braving streets filled with psychotic bus drivers and stealthy motorcyclist death squads. My paraplegic pet turtle could walk from ML to Parrish in 10, maybe 15 minutes tops. I would recommend looking into some PE classes if it's taking you any longer than Stefan.
Spending even more campus money so that you aren't inconvenienced on a day you get to sleep in anyway is absurd, and it's even worse that it comes out of the limited SBC budget, which should be going to worthwhile student activities. The shuttle should be a service provided only at night for reasons of safety and keeping the student incarceration rate down. Wake up 10 minutes earlier if you can't miss your Saturday brunch with Miss Muffet and your favorite English professor. I don't want to pay for your laziness.
Honestly, people.
Jong Hsien is a male student.
Thanks Chris.
Thanks Chris.
It's definitely NOT a thirty minute walk. It's 30 minutes to go to campus and BACK.
I would just like to state for the record that this article has been modified since my first comment. I wasn't pulling quotes out of thin air.
Seriously, you cant walk the 10-15 minutes to campus from ML?
Seriously? We need to waste money on this? Couldn't that money have been put to a better use? You waste more time waiting for the shuttle than you would spend walking considering how it is never on time and half the drivers nearly get into an accident on a daily basis.
Swarthmore needs to harden the fuck up
Speaking as a member of SBC, I can say that there was a lot of debate about this whole issue. Personally, I thought (and continue to think) that it was a bit ridiculous, but many SBC members were concerned more about the safety aspect of things in light of the Din accident.
Is the Yale-Harvard intersection somehow safer before 10 and after 12?
This is absurd. I agree, SBC funds shouldn't be spent on this.
Well, you'd say SBC funds shouldn't be spent on the shuttles just because you don't understand the frustrations MLers feel at times.
And,why do MLers have to walk 15 minutes when non-MLers don't have to?
MLers deserve more for living in ML.
I don't know about your turtle, but with my short legs, it takes me about twenty minutes to get to ML from campus. And in awful weather like today, it really isn't fair to students living in ML. Lim has a point that the shuttles will encourage more students to come to Saturday breakfast and unite students better.
I tested this theory by running from ML to Trotter yesterday. Being short, out of shape, and generally slow didn't help, but it took me nearly 15 minutes (from my room to my destination room) at a run. The hill always kills me. I usually walk it in 20.
Also, even if waiting for the shuttle might take as long as walking, I do homework while I wait and while on the shuttle, whereas I find it difficult to read or write while walking without crashing into things.
The reason I plan to take the Saturday shuttle some weeks is that by the time the breakfast room gets around to my order (some weeks, that's 2 hours after I order), I don't have time to walk and get to a meeting on time.