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New bus service starts Friday
By Pratip Goswami
There are few ideas more joyous in the world than the idea of going home.
After a grueling week of classes, homework and other activities, many students head home for the weekend. For the students who live in the Twin Cities and the neighboring areas, traveling home could be easier starting Friday.
SchoolRider, a private bus company, has taken the initiative to provide bus service for SCSU students to and from Minneapolis and College of St. Benedict over the weekends. Like the Beatles song,' You've got a ticket to ride', students at SCSU will have a ticket to travel home.
The buses would leave on Friday in front of Atwood Memorial Center and arrive at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus at Oak Street. Students who need to travel to the Twin Cities could go non-stop to Minneapolis in a luxury coach facilitated with VCR and DVD players. The bus from Minneapolis would bring the students back to campus Sunday.
Patrick Brink, public relations for SchoolRider commented, "Since there are a considerable number of students at SCSU who are from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul, we have a potential target market for our bus service in the sector."
He also said that the non-stop bus service would be of great help to the student communities of both cities. The bus service would cater primarily to the student population so in all the trips the passengers would be mostly students of SCSU or University of Minnesota.
The $39 round trip ticket is $8 more than Greyhound bus tickets, but Brink said he thought that for the extra $8, students would have the value of a luxury ride home with fellow students in a better coach.
The tickets can be purchased on the Internet from the company's website: www.schoolrider.com. Tickets are only available via the Internet because SchoolRider does not have an on-campus site for purchasing tickets.
Brink said that since most students are computer savvy, it is easier to sell tickets on the Internet than opening a ticket counter at the university.
SchoolRider, which provides bus services in the four states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota, is optimistic about its new service between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities.
Lisa Raduenz, the president of SchoolRider said that after speaking to many students and their parents that there is definitely a need for a non-stop coach to the Twin Cities from St. Cloud.
Brinks also said that during the special school events like Homecoming and sporting events bus schedules might vary but the schedule changes would be made on the Internet ahead of time to facilitate trip planning.
Of 40 students asked about their feelings on the new bus service, 17 felt that it would be of great benefit to SCSU students. Ten students did not care about the idea and the rest were undecided.
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