Soon, every Tuesday will be considered "Trolley Tuesday."
Starting Tuesday, MITS trolley service will be available between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. The route will begin in the Village and end downtown, across from the Mezza Luna Restaurant at 105 E. Main St.
Currently, students pay 50 cents a ride to take the MITS bus to its station at 111 E. Main St, a half block down the street from the restaurant.
The trolley service will be free to students, provided at the cost of Muncie Indiana Transit System, and will run every 10 to 12 minutes.
Director of downtown development Brian Lough said students can benefit from the service in a number of ways.
"We want to encourage restaurants in the Village and downtown to offer discounts for lunch and dinner only for those who ride the trolley," Lough said.
According to Lough, those who ride will be given a two-for-one coupon to Cracker's Comedy Club at 6281 N. College Ave in the Broad Ripple Village.
"The original price is $8," Lough said. "A student discount to $5 and a two-for-one coupon makes it reasonable."
Lough said people downtown and on campus will be given more dining opportunities in either community.
The service was initiated by both communities. Student Government Association President Tommy Rector and Senator Jeremy Wines approached Muncie and MITS a few months ago to discuss options to link the two communities.
"We've wanted to do something for some time," Lough said. "We met with Mayor (Dan) Canan and MITS President Larry King to increase transportation between Ball State and Muncie and encourage MITS to give it a try."
Lough and Rector said they agree the service will benefit the city and Ball State.
"We wanted to find ways to get students to interact with the city and spark student interest," Rector said. "It gives both communities opportunities."
Rector said the trolley will give students the chance to become part of Muncie and become familiar with the city. In return, Rector said, students will pump money into Muncie's economy, showing the city they enrolled at Ball State partly because of Muncie's environment.
Though Lough said "Trolley Tuesday" is a pilot for the service, he and Rector said they hope it will expand.
"I think if we can let the people know about this service we can maybe expand it on the weekends or for big events," Rector said.
The "Trolley Tuesday" service says much about the initiative to connect the two communites, Lough said.
"This is one of the first physically connecting steps," Lough said. "Muncie needs to learn that Ball State is part of the community and Ball State must learn that it is part of the Muncie community."
SGA had posted a survey on its Web site about transportation issues. Rector said he received the results Tuesday. He said he didn't have the time to look at them in-depth, but the more than 650 respondents said they would be in favor of some type of shuttle bus service for late night programs.
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