Shuttle Service in Works for Off-Campus Trips
By Rachel Davidson
Feedback shows demand for transportaion options
Rachel Davidson
The Santa Clara
Santa Clara's Associate Student Government has been researching a new program that could help students get to and from their favorite off-campus locations: an official Santa Clara shuttle bus service. The idea first evolved from the previous "Safe Walk" program where students could call in to be accompanied to and from any near-campus location, and expanded to include further off-campus locations for a combined effort towards safety.
Senate Chair and senior Jack Schneeman organized a task force of different senators and ASG staff to outline a structure of what this service would aim to do. Their first step has been to send out a survey in order to gauge where students' interests lie.
"So far there has been extremely positive feedback from the survey on all counts," said Schneeman.
The numbers have helped his team figure out a definitive structure of how the service would run, based on responses about preferred days of the week, cost, and location.
So far, research has shown that out of 31 Jesuit universities in the U.S., Santa Clara is only one of nine who do not offer a shuttle service to their students. ASG President Jenna Saso contacted each of these student governments to see what they're doing differently, and how Santa Clara could potentially follow suit.
"The real work will come with the detail of the initiative," said ASG President Jenna Saso, "we know this will be an in-depth project, but we are confident that the university will support our initiative."
The biggest obstacle for now is finding initial funding to get the program on its feet. According to results from the survey, most students would be willing to pay up to $20 each quarter for the system to $20 each quarter for the system through a flat rate, but flexible arrangements charging students by usage is a weighable option, too.
Senior Sumeet Chadha does not mind the charge because of the inherent benefits of the proposed system.
"I think it's in line with our mission to be a more sustainable world by offering an alternative to driving," said Chadha.
While it's unclear how many Santa Clara students currently use local transportation, Schneeman said that nearly 90 percent of students surveyed would prefer a Santa Clara shuttle service to public transportation. Not only would this decrease students' ecological footprint by reducing the number of cars borrowed or shared, but it would "foster more of a community by putting students in a shuttle with people they don't necessarily know and might spark a conversation," according to Schneeman.
"Getting off campus is really refreshing and a nice way to escape schoolwork," said freshman Katie McDermott.
She said she would definitely utilize this service to give variety to the monotony of life in the bubble.
At this point, Schneeman's goal is to get a beta version of the service running by early spring quarter, which would offer limited hours of rides to one or two locations, though he admitted that that timing is pretty ambitious. However, this is one of the largest projects that ASG is currently pursuing and the committee is anxiously awaiting students' reactions to drive the proposal to be accepted by the university.
Contact Rachel Davidson at rldavidson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.