Oracle Online

In addition, a petition has circulated on the bus. The petition’s signers want the bus to return to having the buses travel between the campuses in opposite orders. As of Sept. 20, 49 people had signed the petition on second ACTC bus, the majority of whom were St. Catherine’s students.

This summer, the ACTC bus system altered its schedule to include an additional stop at St. Catherine’s Minneapolis campus. The change came after St. Catherine’s inter-campus shuttle was absorbed into the ACTC system. As a result, round-trip time has increased. In addition, the two buses now travel to the six campuses in the same order. Last year the two buses traveled the route in opposite directions.

Associated Colleges Director Paul McDougall said that changing the schedule now is not a possibility, however, he said that it may be possible for spring semester. He said he thinks the College of St. Catherine failed to take certain variables into account when they decided to merge their inter-campus shuttle with the ACTC bus system. McDougall defended the merger, however. “Often [the intercampus shuttle] would just be following our bus around,” McDougall said.

Heather Peterson, a sophomore at Augsburg, takes the bus to St. Catherine’s Minneapolis campus. Going to St. Catherine’s takes her ten minutes. Getting back takes 45 minutes. She said she doesn’t like the time it takes to get back to Augsburg.

However, she said she doesn’t think the schedule is going to change.

Hamline junior Matt Denny, who takes Human Geography at Macalester, spends 39 minutes on the bus getting to Macalester and waits 15 minutes until his class starts. Afterward, he waits 30 minutes for another bus to come to take him the 20 minutes back to Hamline. It takes him two and a half hours to take his one hour class.

“[Macalester’s] close, but they come [to Hamline] last,” Denny said. “If cost weren’t a factor, they should get a third bus.”

The ACTC bus schedule is online at www.associatedcolleges-tc.org.