ASU’s intercampus shuttle service sees, on average, one to three riders per hour on the weekend, according to a report by the university’s Parking and Transit Service department.
Undergraduate Student Government Downtown meeting reviewed the report during their session on Friday.
Parking and Transit Service (PTS) proposed three courses of action in response to these findings: one option being the discontinuation of the weekend shuttle in its entirety — a move that would save $308,000 each year.
Another option would be a reduction of weekend services to one shuttle per route and shuttle stops moving from hourly to every two hours, which would result in an estimated $190,000 of savings. The third proposed option is canceling Sunday’s route for savings of around $110,000 per year.
The funding for this service comes from the university-wide athletics fee. The Parking and Transit Advisory Board will make a recommendation to the student government Council of Presidents who will act to discontinue, modify or approve the shuttle as it stands.
For the Sun Devil Express, on the other hand, numbers are encouraging.
USGD Vice President of Services Kat Hofland referenced a report by Dunn Transportation, which facilitates the busing for the Sun Devil Express, listing ridership information from Aug. 20 to Sept. 31 of this year.
There were 813 total rides on the Sun Devil Express during this period, with 509 new riders and 304 returning riders, according to the report. This figure has already surpassed the ridership for all of last year, which was under 270 riders total.
“These numbers show that this is a really useful service,” Hofland said.
And while numbers are encouraging, some raised concerns about the Sun Devil Express.
A large portion of the ridership increase comes from Sunday, according to figures given by USGD, with Sunday usage averaging 102 riders and ranging from 64 to 160 riders. Weekday ridership, on the other hand, ranges from 4 to 29 riders with an average of 12 riders.
This route is the grocery shuttle to Safeway, which has been popular among students. Due to this, USGD is considering student suggestions of adding an additional trip to a grocery store during the week or expanding the route to include a larger store, like Target, as a part of the routes.
“The Sunday route is not a problem. It’s something that everyone loves. It’s pretty much going to stay no matter what,” USGD Vice President of Policy Ryan Boyd said. “The Monday through Thursday route is the tricky part because that’s the route we did last year, and that route failed miserably.”
Concerns for the weekday route stem in part from disconnect between commuter students and USGD.
“We aren’t very good at connecting with commuting students,” Boyd said.
Michael Spadafore, USGD senator from the College of Public Service and Community Solutions, commented on the shuttle not meeting the needs of nontraditional and commuter students, who make up a large portion of his constituency.
“Being a (nontraditional) student offers so many more challenges that everybody who is a traditional student may not see,” Spadafore said.
In a recent USGD meeting, Spadafore advocated rerouting and optimizing the routes of the bus to the needs of nontraditional students. This could constitute rerouting the bus to include a stop at the Seventh Street garage, omitting the Roosevelt Point apartments stop.
USGD will continue to gather downtown ASU student feedback on busing issues. They will decide on a recommendation for PTS over the course of this academic year.
Contact the reporter at csmannin@asu.edu
