Shuttles an asset to students, officials say
Utah State University students are getting a great service for their money when it comes to the shuttle system, says Aggie Shuttle director Alden Erickson.
Currently, students are paying $8 a semester in fees toward the shuttle system.
“I attend a national coalition every year for university shuttle systems, and $8 is almost unheard of,” Erickson said.
He also said USU is providing services comparable to other systems where fees are much higher.
The shuttle fee was raised last year by the student fee board from $3.75 to $8 to better facilitate the growing needs of the shuttle system. The shuttle system currently operates on a budget of $325,000. Quite a feat, said Erickson, considering that each new bus can cost $180,000 to $200,000.
Lisa Leishman, USU Parking and Transportation Services director, attributes the ability of the Aggie shuttle system to be as successful as it is on a small budget to “creative budgeting.” Erickson said the department is constantly on the lookout for other sources of revenue such as grants so they “don’t shoulder the cost onto the backs of the students.”
Last year, Erickson said, a grant from Clean Cities was used to buy two new buses at a “great price” from an Arizona airport.
“Students should be very proud of the job we are doing,” Erickson said.
The Aggie shuttle system was developed in 1979 by USU Housing and Food Services to transport students living on campus to class. In 1994 it was made part of the USU Parking and Transportation Services, and in 1999 Erickson was made the Aggie Shuttle director. Since 1999, the fleet has been continually updated, with nine new environmentally friendly CNG (compressed natural gas) buses being added and the construction of a shelter for the buses that has eliminated dangerous snow pile-up.
“There are physically not enough parking stalls on central campus to accommodate all of the university patrons,” Leishman said. “The Aggie shuttle provides a mechanism for students to park at the stadium and then be transported to central campus.”
The Aggie shuttle system also keeps traffic congestion down by transporting 8,000 people a day that would otherwise be circling central campus for a parking spot, Leishman said. The Aggie shuttle will guarantee that students will “always have a place to park on campus.” More than 147,000 people were transported by the Aggie shuttle system in January.
“Time is money, and for a student to have to search and search for that elusive parking spot is time-consuming,” Leishman said.
Despite the success of the Aggie shuttle system, there have been complaints from some students about the infrequency and inconsistency of buses. Erickson said that a lot of students’ complaints have to do with problems that are a result of the cold weather.
“The month of January was one of the coldest on record in 20 years,” Erickson said, and when the air is cold and humid, ice builds up in the lines, there are blockages, and the bus doors won’t work.
“We don’t have the facilities to keep warm,” Erickson said. “We put vans and every other resource possible out to help the students. The cold weather came and we feel like we did our best with whatever we had to work with.”
Erickson also acknowledges that to a student standing in the cold, five minutes might feel like 25.
Shuttle drivers also say that students driving on campus, especially in the Taggart Student Center turnaround, cause delays for shuttles.
Students trying to pick up and drop off friends near the TSC are “really frustrating because it’s not a loading zone. It’s for buses only and it means we can’t provide students the service we are trying to provide,” said Josh Bingham, an Aggie shuttle driver, and a sophomore in physical education. “We could more quickly serve the student body if cars were not trying to drop off people in the turnaround.”
Erickson said he hopes most of the concerns students have will be solved through the use of the new system they are using for ridership counts. Erickson said the new system allows him to better pin-point the needs of the students and place routes.
Justin Leavitt, an Aggie shuttle driver and a senior majoring in English education, agreed, saying that he enjoys providing this kind of a service to the students at USU.
“Frankly, it’s freezing cold,” Leavitt said. “With the shuttle system, people don’t have to climb the hills in the cold.”
While fees for transportation will remain the same this next school year, once the ridership counts are in and the system is better aware of student needs, proposals may be made to the student fee board to raise fees for the 2005-06 school year, Leishman said. In addition to improvements to the shuttle system, a new parking complex will be completed in 2006 to help ease parking and transportation difficulties.
The shuttle drivers also said USU students are displaying fairly high levels of courtesy in return for the services offered by the Aggie shuttle.
“The people I have gotten to know transporting from place to place are very courteous,” Bingham said. “They say thank you. Rarely have I encountered anyone rude.”
Erickson said the students here at USU are “the best people you can work with.”
Erickson also said that he hopes the students are aware of the “tremendous job” the Aggie shuttle is doing. “I realize there are things that can be better,” Erickson said. “But things don’t happen overnight. We are very committed to the students, and we want to provide as good a system as possible.”
Any concerns regarding the shuttle system can be directed to Erickson at alden.erickson@usu.edu.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu