2008 Woodie Awards
Night buses to transport students
Late night buses will take students from downtown to
Aaron Swenson
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
After winter break, SCSU students who enjoy St. Cloud's downtown nightlife will have another way to and from campus.
SCSU president Earl Potter gave his approval Nov. 9 to supply students and the public with a late-night bus service between campus and downtown St. Cloud.
His approval was needed to finalize plans after 450 SCSU students voted in favor of providing students with the service in April.
"For sure this is a good idea, because there are so many people going downtown and they don't have rides, so it would be a safer route than driving," said junior Ashley Robertson.
Two hundred and ninety-five students voted against the service and 41 voted neutral.
"This is a campus where it is known for its drinking and people are going to go out and drink, so there is not going to be a time when you can slow down people's drinking, but this will be safer," said senior Jodi Norstedt.
The service will ultimately be paid for by SCSU student activity fee money, and the service will be provided by the Metropolitan Transit Commission.
To pay for the new bus service, 25 cents will be added to all SCSU students' activity fees.
The increase is minor when comparing it to colleges in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
"I went to school in Fargo for awhile and they have a $2 cab service where you can call from anywhere in Fargo and Moorhead and get picked up and they will bring you anywhere," Robertson said. "We need to do something like a cheap cab service or this bus service. This is not promoting drinking, it is just looking out for the students, because they are going to be at the bars anyway.
The money taken in from non-SCSU student riders will be re-routed back to SCSU and the money provided by student activity fees will guarantee the routes will always be in service.
The MTC is scheduled to begin supplying students with their alternative source of transportation Jan. 17.
Three bus routes will be going back and forth from campus to downtown from 9 p.m. until between 2 and 2:45 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Because the hours are scheduled around busy bar times, the MTC will have a new set of issues to deal with.
"Some negatives would be people are probably going to try and bring drinks on the bus and some people could possibly miss the bus. Also, at 2 o'clock in the morning when everyone wants to go home the buses will be crowded," Norstedt said.
According to the MTC, all issues on the buses will be treated the same as any other routes in St. Cloud when it comes to unruly riders.
During his time as SCSU president, Roy Saigo rejected the late night bus service to the dismay of some students, because only about 5 percent of the about 16,000 SCSU students voted on the student fee increase.
"I definitely think something should have been done along time ago. Even if it was something that they were testing out, it would have been worth it," Norstedt said.
SCSU president Earl Potter gave his approval Nov. 9 to supply students and the public with a late-night bus service between campus and downtown St. Cloud.
His approval was needed to finalize plans after 450 SCSU students voted in favor of providing students with the service in April.
"For sure this is a good idea, because there are so many people going downtown and they don't have rides, so it would be a safer route than driving," said junior Ashley Robertson.
Two hundred and ninety-five students voted against the service and 41 voted neutral.
"This is a campus where it is known for its drinking and people are going to go out and drink, so there is not going to be a time when you can slow down people's drinking, but this will be safer," said senior Jodi Norstedt.
The service will ultimately be paid for by SCSU student activity fee money, and the service will be provided by the Metropolitan Transit Commission.
To pay for the new bus service, 25 cents will be added to all SCSU students' activity fees.
The increase is minor when comparing it to colleges in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
"I went to school in Fargo for awhile and they have a $2 cab service where you can call from anywhere in Fargo and Moorhead and get picked up and they will bring you anywhere," Robertson said. "We need to do something like a cheap cab service or this bus service. This is not promoting drinking, it is just looking out for the students, because they are going to be at the bars anyway.
The money taken in from non-SCSU student riders will be re-routed back to SCSU and the money provided by student activity fees will guarantee the routes will always be in service.
The MTC is scheduled to begin supplying students with their alternative source of transportation Jan. 17.
Three bus routes will be going back and forth from campus to downtown from 9 p.m. until between 2 and 2:45 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Because the hours are scheduled around busy bar times, the MTC will have a new set of issues to deal with.
"Some negatives would be people are probably going to try and bring drinks on the bus and some people could possibly miss the bus. Also, at 2 o'clock in the morning when everyone wants to go home the buses will be crowded," Norstedt said.
According to the MTC, all issues on the buses will be treated the same as any other routes in St. Cloud when it comes to unruly riders.
During his time as SCSU president, Roy Saigo rejected the late night bus service to the dismay of some students, because only about 5 percent of the about 16,000 SCSU students voted on the student fee increase.
"I definitely think something should have been done along time ago. Even if it was something that they were testing out, it would have been worth it," Norstedt said.