« Biking: the other alternative fun | Main | SPEAKOUT: What did you leave at home? »
September 19, 2006
News Briefs
ACTC bus adds stop and route time in rescheduling effort
Getting to Macalester College via the ACTC bus will take a little longer this year. Now, it takes 45 minutes to get to Maclester, about the time it would take one to walk there.
The time increased this year because St. Catherine’s shuttle between its St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses was absorbed into the ACTC bus system. This added a stop to St. Catherine’s Minneapolis campus. Associated Colleges Director Paul McDougall said it made economic sense to combine the two. Adding the Minneapolis St. Catherine’s stop has increased the round-trip route time from approximately 60 minutes to 70 minutes. In addition, the two buses now travel the same route with the same order of stops. Last year, they traveled in opposing order of stops. Now, buses are on each campus approximately every 30 minutes.
“Our overall intent was uniform coverage between the campuses,” McDougall said.
Under last year’s schedule, the buses were on each campus within 15 minutes of each other, and then there was no bus for the next hour, McDougall said.
Professr George Gaetano voiced displeasure with the new schedule in the HUSC meeting last Tuesday. He said that the ACTC bus system now makes it more difficuly for students to travel between the ACTC schools.
Metro Transit pilot program offers student ride discount
Bus riders rejoice. Metro Transit has finally made a student college bus pass available to Hamline students.
The Go-To College pass will be available at 10 participating area colleges, and will cost $176. The pass expires Dec. 31 and has no restrictions on where and when a student can ride, or how often. Relative to normal bus prices, the costis equivalent to 117 rides at $1.50 per ride during off peak hours, or 88 rides at $2 per ride during rush hour.
Staff assistant Carolyn Engeldinger, who works at the Student Center Front Desk, said only a dozen have been sold. She said that while it is a fantastic value for commuter students, it is hard for students to have $176 available to buy a bus pass that they did not budget for, especially while they’re buying books.
However, the pass has been much more popular at Normandale Community College, where approximately 200 passes have been sold, and St. Thomas University, where approximately 120 passes have been sold, Metro Transit Sales Operations Specialist Jamie Westlund said.
The pass is similar to the University of Minnesota’s U-Pass. The U-Pass costs $66, and also offers unrestricted rides. However, U of M students also pay a $15 transportation fee, which helps pay for the ridership, according the the U of M website.
Passes can be purchased at the Student Center front desk and take one business day to receive.
--Compiled by Matt Lutz
Posted by dwright at September 19, 2006 09:01 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)