OUR VIEW: At the right place, at the right time

The addition of the new natural gas Aggie Shuttle buses to the university was a great investment. Not only do these buses transport more students in a nicer vehicle, they also work to protect the environment as they run off cleaner compressed natural gas. This natural gas costs only 85 cents a gallon, thereby saving the school money as well.

Perhaps the greatest success of these new buses is their ability to fit more students at a time than the older buses. Recently, the Aggie Shuttle service has made a smart move in adding these new buses to the Campus Loop route, which was in desperate need of buses with higher carrying capacities.

When the buses were first added to the fleet, they only ran on the Stadium Express route. This meant more people could shuttle back and forth on this route, since the new buses have a larger seating capacity than the current buses. While these buses were filled during high capacity times like the early morning rush, the rest of the time they remained largely empty.

Meanwhile, the Campus Loop route was consigned to remain with the older buses that carry fewer people. This was a problem as the Campus Loop is consistently a packed route, even during times that aren’t such high capacity. During the morning rush, the buses on this route are jam packed, leaving barely enough room to breathe.

Out of the two routes, the Campus Loop needed the new buses more, but it took a couple weeks before the transportation services did anything about it. This meant a less-efficient use of the buses and university money.

However, the USU Parking and Transportation Services deserves credit for seeing the greater need and acting on it. Instead of waiting for repeated student complaints and lengthy investigations, they saw where the buses were needed most and added them to the Campus Loop route. This has made for greater ease of shuttling in the morning and at high-capacity times, thereby benefiting all riders of the Aggie Shuttle.

Thanks to Transportation Services for seeing and filling this need.