U. outlines potential transportation changes
Students will have the opportunity to talk to officials tonight from the University's Department of Transportation Services' annual Transportation Forum about the bus changes for the 2009-2010 school year.
It will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room 411A of the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus and is open to any interested member of the University community.
"It's great that they're doing that. It's very important that the students, the people that they're doing the work for, have a say in what happens," said Rakesh Babu, a sophomore in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
At the forum, directors will discuss the bus route and construction plans due to the College Avenue Greening Project and parking permit changes, said Manager of Transportation Planning Jennifer Stuart Lane.
"Since there's going to be a portion of College Avenue closed in front of the gym for approximately two years, we need to obviously redirect the transit routes to use George Street, and we're most likely using Bishop [Street] as well," Lane said.
The project also includes a new bus hub and other pedestrian and fountain features in front of the Rutgers Student Center, Lane said.
She said construction on the project — intended to make College Avenue a more pedestrian-friendly campus — will last about two years and construction will start this summer.
"It's going to be trouble sometimes because you have to find alternate routes everywhere, but it'll look a lot better," said School of Arts and Sciences junior Pratin Shah.
Babu said the construction would definitely be inconvenient but also necessary.
"I think that they need to do something about making the campus look better and safer for pedestrians," he said.
But Lane said the buses' delays during rush hour are still something these new plans will probably not fix.
"Unfortunately, we do deal with congestion, and that's kind of a part of being in an urban area. We try to really get the schedule down as much as possible, but there's always going to be issues. We can't control congestion," she said. "You're going to need to allow a lot more time if you're leaving during rush hour."
Lane said the department approved a measure in next year's budget to increase service on some of the key bus routes during the first three weeks of classes, when students use the buses more to learn the system. Student reactions prompted this proposal.
But she said next year's budget still has to be approved.
"That's something that we proposed. Whether it ends up happening or not, we have to wait and see," Lane said.
At the forum, students will also learn about the department's new parking permit plans, which call for tiered rates.
"There's nothing finalized just yet, but we're looking to get some feedback on a new parking structure for commuter permits, essentially charging more for those that want to park in structures like the College Avenue deck and Douglass deck and then providing a permit that's less than the existing cost," Lane said.
She said students next year will have the option to either pay more for more valued parking structures, which cost more to maintain, or less for the Livingston, Cook and Busch service lots.
Lane said the future permit prices, which do not affect resident permits, are undetermined. Currently, commuter students pay a flat rate of $170.
"We at least wanted to present our new format to students to kind of get a reaction, and we're going around to each of the governing associations to talk about it, and it's received a lot of positive feedback on this new system," Lane said.
She said tonight's forum is being held to answer anyone's questions on the plans.
"It's just very informal. You can stop by any time. You don't have to come at the beginning and stay until the end. It's going to be a conversation and we're going to go through and answer questions as we go. We do have a presentation to give if people are interested," Lane said.
She said the board intends to reach out to students again at the beginning of next semester to let students know of the finalized plans.
"If they're having a forum, I'm sure they'll listen to the ideas that the students are giving out to the people," Shah said.
