In response to complaints made by Naismith and Oliver Hall residents, KU on Wheels added an extra bus to the Naismith/Oliver-GSP route yesterday.
To keep operating costs the same, KU On Wheels cut hours from the Jayhawk Express route, a free bus that only runs on campus. Rather than running until 3:45 p.m., the route ends at 1:45 p.m.
The added Naismith/Oliver-GSP bus runs between 8 and 10 a.m., during the peak hours of ridership. The added bus will not run the entire route.
Lauren Kanter was one of the students who had a problem with the Naismith/Oliver-GSP route. Kanter paid $130 for a year bus pass, but she said she hadn’t used it since about September. The St. Louis freshman and Naismith Hall resident, said she was continuously late for class when she rode the bus.
“It was a waste,” Kanter said. “I stopped taking the bus because I could never get on it, and I’d end up spending more time waiting for the bus than it would take me to walk.”
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Kanter said she would ride the bus again if it was faster than walking.
The Transportation Board voted to add another bus to the Naismith/Oliver-GSP route and cut the hours from Jayhawk Express on Feb. 15, Bengston said.
Jayhawk Express ridership averaged 128 students each day in December versus an average of 504 students each day who rode the Naismith/Oliver-GSP route.
“We didn’t want to scale down completely, but taking the hours from the Jayhawk Express made the most sense,” said Anton Bengston, chairman of the Transportation Board.
After consulting the Lawrence Bus Company, the board determined that the Jayhawk Express was among the least used. Only the Night Campus Express had fewer riders.
After the student bus hearings during the last two weeks, the Transportation Board is considering eliminating the Jayhawk Express entirely.
“We’re trying to keep our bases covered in a financially responsible manner,” Bengston said.
If the Jayhawk Express is eliminated, the Transportation Board has a plan to transport students on campus.
“We would have a current route reworked,” Bengston said. “The route would go to the places the Jayhawk Express goes, but it would not be a free bus.”
It would make the most sense to re-route it to an area with a greater number of students with greater need, but the decision is ultimately up to the Transportation Board, he said.
The Transportation Board will meet on March 15 to discuss and finalize the routes for next year including the option of making the extra bus on the Naismith/Oliver-GSP route permanent.
If the Jayhawk Express was eliminated, Blake Huff, transportation coordinator for KU on Wheels, said a pay-only bus wouldn’t bring in much extra money because fares were a small part of the revenue.
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