Starting this semester, the purple bus route stops outside the LSU Student Union to accommodate easier campus access for disabled students.
The new stop is the result of a Student Government resolution passed in March requesting LSU Disability Services to re-evaluate campus accessibility for disabled students.
Before this semester, there was no route close to the Union, said Senior Director of Administrative Services, Risk Management and Parking Jeff Campbell.
“The reason that we chose the purple route was so that when the door opened, it would be on the Union side,” Campbell said. “They wouldn’t have to cross the street.”
Campbell said his office tries its best to accommodate students’ transportation needs.
“If it is a request that has substance and validity to it — which I think this has substance and validity,” Campbell said.
Political science sophomore and SG Director of Transportation Louis Gremillion said the additional stop will help non-disabled students as well.
“It allows students to get on and off at the Student Union, which is like the heart of campus,” Gremillion said.
Since the new stop’s debut, SG and Gremillion have received positive feedback, Gremillion said.
However, when the route’s alterations were introduced Tuesday, Gremillion said the bus did not make its former stop near Foster Hall.
“We are looking into seeing if there is any way that we can alter that bus route just so that those stops will be included — so we are not inconveniencing any students on the west side of campus,” Gremillion said.
As of now, Gremillion said the additional stop to the purple route has not been reflected on the TransLoc app — the popular campus transit application for students. It will take between one and two weeks before the new stop is represented.
For now, Gremillion said students can download the independent app TransLoc Rider to follow routes during daily commutes. The app also provides a new feature displaying the buses’ current seating capacity.
“The purpose of it was to create a more convenient commute across campus for students,” Gremillion said of the new stop. “Over time, it’s just going to improve more and more.”