The University’s bus system, a long-time source of frustration for students, saw many changes this year from rising rates to the privatization of the system. The University’s transition from Capital Area Transit System, the current bus provider, to a private company is the biggest change in the bus system this year. Rising gas prices last summer caused CATS to increase its rates from $58 an hour to $83.50 – an overall increase of more than $1 million – and led to the elimination of 10,000 hours from the bus schedule. The rising rates, as well as complaints of poor service, eventually led to the University’s decision to terminate its 30-year relationship with CATS to go with a national bus company. Gary Graham, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation director, said student initiative also led the University to think about privatizing the bus system. “Students had seen some other systems and were willing to see if there was something better out there,” Graham said. “It wasn’t decided at that time to dump CATS in the swamp. It was a case of, ‘Let’s get somebody in here to look at the whole system and what we have, what students want [and] what we have to pay for.’ That was the approach that was taken.” Using $40,000 from a Coca-Cola donation, Student Government hired Mitch Skyer, president and senior consultant of Solstice Transportation Consulting, to evaluate the University’s bus system this fall. Brandon Boyd, former SG transportation director, said Skyer was chosen because both SG and the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation had previous contact with him. Skyer visited the University three times during the fall semester. During his first visit to the University in September, Skyer met with administrators, SG, transportation officials and students as he evaluated the bus system. “The challenges are very real,” Skyer said in September. Skyer’s second visit to the University came with a sample 60-foot articulated a bus — a bus that bends in the middle and can hold up to 125 people. The bus was driven on all of the routes to ensure it could make every turn. A survey went out to students, asking them what they wanted in a bus system. About 3,000 students replied to the survey, and Skyer returned to the University for his third and final visit in December. “[The survey] confirmed that students want more buses, more often,” Skyer said in December. “We want to start with more predictable bus times and have a higher frequency.” With the results from the survey, Skyer created a transportation master plan, which suggested GPS locators, new routes and additional buses. A proposal for the new system was made based on the master plan, and bus companies received an invitation to bid on the proposal in March. Companies originally had until March 31 to submit a bid, but prospective bidders expressed concerns over the cost and management of an articulated bus at a non-mandatory, pre-bid meeting, which led to the elimination of the articulated bus from the specifications. “They essentially said, ‘If you want it, it’s going to be very costly … we can provide them, but it may not be within what you think you can afford.’ So we took it out,” Graham said. “We didn’t want to be put in a position of putting a bid out, and everybody comes in so high that we have to reject all bids and start over from scratch.” Another 39 to 42-foot transit bus replaced the articulated bus in the specifications, and the University extended the deadline to April 21. SG President Colorado Robertson said the University tried to maintain a reasonable increase in the cost of bus services. “We really liked the articulated bus, but we had to look and see what we were willing to pay,” Robertson said. “I don’t think we could pay and justify that.” The University later received four bids for the new bus system, with two being affordable and one “borderline affordable.” The fourth bid appeared to be higher than the University is willing to pay. The lowest of the four bids, First Transit, provides service for the universities of Alabama and Texas, Princeton University, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University. Graham said First Transit offered a base fee of about $86. CATS didn’t submit a bid, and Graham said he doesn’t anticipate a lapse of service between the end of CATS’ service to the University and the start of the new company’s service this summer. Once the lowest bid is clarified, the University will calculate how much the student parking and transportation fee will be increased. Graham said the bids are probably within the range the students approved. “[The Student Required Fee Committee] approved up to $26, but I’m not sure we’ll need to go that route,” Graham said. “But until we actually do all of the calculations, I can’t be sure.” With the new bus system set to start August 1, Boyd said the year was “extremely productive.” “It went as close to textbook as one can hope,” Boyd said. —-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]