The Student Government Executive Branch has submitted a revised Greek B bus route to the University’s Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation for approval. If approved, the new bus route would connect students living on the west side of campus to east campus resources like the Student Recreational Complex. The route will pass directly in front of the Pentagon Mini Mart and the Indian Mounds to service students living in the Pentagon and the new Graham residence hall. “That was not my initial plan,” said Corey Weber, SG director of transportation. “My initial plan was to help the Greek A route, but a lot will be accomplished by this route.” Weber said the parking office will review the plans soon, and if approved, they would be implemented for the summer semester. He said SG would not want to interrupt the routines of students by changing bus routes in the middle of a semester. He said the route will service the Quad as well as the west side of campus in eight to 10 minutes. Weber said although this route was not initially revamped to connect the west side of campus to the UREC, “working on this initiative achieves a part of bringing the west side closer and more connected to the Rec and campus.” West campus residents have complained that living so far from the UREC often causes them not to exercise as much as they would like. Carter Dean, undecided freshman, said he likes to workout because he is trying to keep healthy and lose weight. But he said living on the west side keeps him from visiting the UREC as much as he would like to. “It’s hard to get over there for me, and I’m not willing to drive over there in my car,” Dean said. Dean said he does not drive to the UREC because he does not want to waste gas nor does he want to risk losing a good parking spot in a lot where parking spots are few and far between. He has a bike he would use to get to the UREC, but he normally exercises late at night, and it would be a safety risk to ride his bike across campus at night. Caitlin Brown, international studies freshman, decided she must live healthier after a diabetes scare this past summer. Since then, she has set up monthly meetings with the Student Health Center’s dietician and implemented the suggested changes to her diet. She also tries to workout at least three times a week. But Brown said her attempts at healthier living are sometimes hampered by living on the west side of campus. Brown said she usually goes to the UREC right after classes because the walk is shorter and she does not have the distractions of her dorm. “If I go back to my dorm for anything, it’s really hard to get me to go to the Rec,” she said. Brown said because she is a girl, it is unsafe to travel to the UREC at night. So if she has late classes, she often has to forgo a workout. “My roommate and I are looking at apartments on [the east] side of campus specifically because we would not have an excuse to not go to the gym,” she said. Students disagree how much of a difference the proposed route will make, but they all say it will help to alleviate the problem. Dean said the proposed route would help the situation “big time.” He said he would go to the UREC more often if the bus route gets approved. Brown said she can see the proposed route helping, but there is already a bus route that passes in front of the Journalism Building not too far from the the Pentagon. But she said the route would definitely help in cases of poor weather. “I kind of wish there was something on [the west] side of campus,” Brown said. The idea of a new recreational facility on the west side of campus is floating around the UREC administration. In a spring 2007 report, Brailsford and Dunlavey, a consulting company that audited the UREC in 2005-2006, recommended a facility be built on the west side of campus because of that area’s rise as a residential and athletic hub. But UREC administration said the development of a west campus facility will not be soon if at all. “We have a lot of things we have to do to make it happen,” said UREC assistant director of marketing and membership Tricia Milford-Hoyt. Official discussions regarding whether a west side facility should be built would most likely start in 2008-2009, and students would have to wait until at least 2012 or 2013 before doors could open on a west campus recreational facility, Milford-Hoyt said. She said UREC administration is currently focused on maintaining and upgrading the current recreational facility. The funds garnered from a recently approved UREC fee increase will go toward balancing the UREC budget and improving its services. Milford-Hoyt said the fee increase will result in a surplus in about five years, and UREC administration will consult students on how they would like the money to be spent. This is where the potential to build a west campus facility will be discussed, she said. But Milford-Hoyt applauded the efforts of Weber and SG with the revised bus route. She said students will have more access to the UREC because of the new route. SG is currently working with Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation, to get the new route approved and to re-evaluate all campus bus routes to serve students better, Weber said. “We want to have the changes ready for the summer time, so that incoming freshmen can have all of these resources available to them,” Weber said. He said this revision to the bus route wold be a strong change for transportation because it would encourage more students to utilize the bus system. Until the bus route is approved and implemented, students will have to rely on other methods to get to the UREC. An average of 8 percent of calls made per week to Campus Transit were from west campus residents asking to be brought to the UREC, according to Campus Transit. And although Campus Transit calls varies weekly depending upon what is happening on campus, the weeks surveyed are considered average weeks for Transit, said Eric Reid, assistant director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation.
—-Contact Allen Womble at [email protected]