Ball State University students who live in residence halls or in neighborhoods east of campus will have quicker and easier access to campus through a trial shuttle route beginning in January.
The Muncie Indiana Transit System Board of Directors on Monday approved the route, which will use a trolly and begin Jan. 9 and end March 3. The experimental route will cost between $11,000 and $14,000 over the two-month period, MITS General Manager Larry King said.
MITS' decision to initiate the temporary route came after the university decided against paying for half the cost of a shuttle route. MITS sought 50 percent participation from the university for a route, which would have cost about $53,117 for the 2006 Spring and Fall semesters.
Tom Morrison, associate vice president of human resources and state relations, said Ball State's mission is not to provide public transportation but rather to offer its parking shuttle service, which was designed simply to take people from remote parking lots on the outskirts of campus to the center of campus.
"We've been very upfront with MITS in our relationship that we will help in any way we can, but theirs is a business of public transportation and ours is not," Morrison said. "We are excited they are willing to give it a try, and we will help in any way we can in terms of publicizing it to students and getting the word out."
King said he was confident the MITS east-of-campus shuttle route would be popular among students who live in near-campus neighborhoods and in residence halls such as Noyer, Woodworth, DeHority and Studebaker East and West Residence Hall complexes.
More student riders will mean a little bit more federal funding for MITS, which receives money based on its ridership, King said.
"From what we have gotten from discussions from some of the Student Government Association officers, it seems like there is quite a bit of interest in this type of service," King said. "We are hoping that it will do 40-plus passengers per hour."
Several SGA officers including President Steve Geraci and Adam Link, secretary of student community relations, met with King two weeks ago to discuss the route. Geraci's original proposed route +â-óGé¼" one of two routes introduced during recent meetings of the Mayor's Commission for Ball State Student Relations +â-óGé¼" was amended to include service to students who live in Beacon Hill Apartments on Wayne Street. The 2.5-mile, 10-minute loop will include McKinley, Neely, New York and Riverside avenues, as well as Rex, Locust, Linden and Wayne streets.
The route will run from 8:40 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. Monday through Friday, Geraci said.
"MITS made it really clear that they would try this once, and if this would be successful, they would be seeking a permanent partnership with Ball State and would not bring the route back unless they got the partnership with Ball State," Geraci said. No alternative fundraising methods have been discussed, he said.
Morrison said the university looks forward to seeing the east-of-campus shuttle succeed and would like to see it continue, but MITS would have to assume full responsibility for it.
"Really, that is their decision," Morrison said. "They are in the transportation business."
The university had also discussed handing its shuttle system over to MITS permanently, but doing so would result in savings of less than $50,000, Morrison said. If MITS were to change its mind about running the university's shuttle system, Ball State would have to start over from scratch, which could cost millions of dollars, he said.
"We have analyzed it a number of times and we determined at the time that it was not financially responsible to make that transition because it would not have saved the university enough funding to justify the risk involved," Morrison said.
Ball State, however, has pledged to MITS that it would not compete with the company's operation by expanding the university's shuttle system any farther, Morrison said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
