The future of the MITS Loop around campus and nearby neighborhoods could be decided today in a meeting between Ball State University administrators and Student Government Association.
As an experimental route set up by SGA and MITS, The Loop ran for six weeks from Jan. 9 through March 3. A goal of 40 riders an hour was set at the beginning, and while ridership started out low, it averaged more than 50 riders an hour for the final four weeks.
"There are no measures by which the trial can be considered a failure," Steve Geraci, SGA president, said. "Over 13,000 students rode it."
While MITS funded the trial, Mary Gaston, assistant general manager, said it cannot continue to afford the Loop without financial assistance from Ball State. The university would need to cover half of the costs.
The university is not predisposed to supporting public transportation, said Tom Morrison, associate vice president for Human Resources and State Relations. While this does not mean the university will refuse to help fund the Loop, it is unlikely.
"Asking the university to pay for it is outside of our mission as an institution," he said. "Our job is to educate students, and MITS gets tax money for transportation."
Geraci, however, is optimistic a compromise can be reached. SGA will bring three possible plans to the meeting today for consideration. It is suggesting running the Loop for the same six weeks next year, for the eight weeks before and after Winter Break and all year.
The trolley costs $300 a day to run, so Ball State's half of the expenses would range from $6,250 to $25,000, Geraci said. If the university did help, it would essentially be the students paying for the Loop, and Morrison said all students should not have to pay for something only a small group uses.
"I applaud the fact students have utilized the services on the MITS shuttle," he said. "That it's being overused is better, but for every student that rides, MITS is getting money and we think the funding should go back into the shuttle."
SGA firmly supports the Loop however, and Geraci said the numbers showed the students support it as well. SGA collected about 40 e-mails and comments from students, and Geraci said SGA will bring them to the meeting.
"I don't know how more to prove it than the votes we got from the students," he said. "People voted with their feet every time they got on and off that trolley."
While MITS representatives will not be at the meeting today, Geraci said SGA would bring letters of support from the transportation system administrators.
Besides helping the students get to campus, Gaston said the trolley made students more comfortable with public transportation, increased university and MITS cooperation and reduced the number of vehicles on McKinley Avenue.
Students also told SGA they attended class more regularly because of the Loop, Geraci said. Instead of skipping class on days with bad weather, the students said they took the trolley to campus.
"Ball State needs to be in the business of providing services to their students and this is one they want, even though they are not going to be seeing any financial gains from this," Geraci 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
