Monday, December 1st, 2008

Let gas prices drive you to mass transit

Students should use the bus system because they pay for it

By Alex Doherty

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Even though gas prices have waxed and waned recently, they seem to have temporarily settled around $3.55 in Kansas, a 30 percent increase from last year, according to GasBuddy.com.

Luckily, KU students last year voted to pass a referendum that opened bus transport to all with the addition of a student fee. With these changes, students can move toward negating at least two long lasting complaints, a lack of parking on campus and the high price of gas.

More importantly, though, students can move towards instilling a progressive support for public transit at the University and in Lawrence.

Starting with the first day of school, students can board buses on campus without needing to show any ID. Students catching the bus off campus must provide a KUID. The Lawrence Public Transit System, known as the T, is also free to students who have the updated KUID.

All of these moves are designed to increase bus ridership and should resolve long-standing grievances about parking on campus.

Parking issues have become especially contentious since construction of a football practice facility began. During construction, 667 parking spots were supposed to be replaced, but 222 spots still have not been replaced Even back in 2005, Chance Management Associates, a professional parking consultant, said parking on campus was inadequate.

Regardless of talk from the Parking or Athletics departments, parking will always be limited on a campus built on a hill. Buses hold the long-term key to parking problem on campus.

Most of the failures of mass transit come from a lack of information about how the system works. KU On Wheels should increase knowledge about routes and times to the student body by distributing maps on campus or including a prominent link on the University’s homepage. Student understanding and acceptance of the system is critical to ensuring the success of public transit.

The city of Lawrence, especially south of 23rd Street and west of Iowa Street, has been designed for the car. Miles of roads paved the way for expansion into western and southern Lawrence and the construction of massive student apartment complexes. All of this has led to sprawl and low population density: the twin enemies of effective public transit.

Alone, Lawrence’s T System has not been effective at reducing the number of drivers coming to campus. The University and the city of Lawrence have discussed integrating their systems, but current efforts have stalled in the face of possible financial problems for the T.

Students may hold the key to saving the T, which will be scrapped if a sales tax is not passed on the November ballot. If students increase their use of the KU bus system and the T, they would see the necessity to save Lawrence’s only method of mass transit.

Although mass transit is especially important for international students, who typically don’t own cars, it benefits anyone who would otherwise pay for gas. Reducing overall gas consumption in Lawrence would also help the city maintain its environmentally friendly mantra.

Students should take advantage of a system that they are required to pay for. Many students come from cities where public transit isn’t a viable option, but by experimenting with the KU and city bus systems, they may find a few less issues to complain about.

—Alex Doherty for the editorial board

Discussion

All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.

111 Stauffer-Flint Hall • 1435 Jayhawk Blvd. • Lawrence, Kansas 66045 • (785) 864-4810