The Big Owl Bus, formerly the KSU Shuttle, has been serving students for a year. As a long supporter and regular rider of B.O.B., I have seen several changes to the service. I remember the smelly, old rented buses we used. I remember when they announced the naming contest. I even remember when the brand new B.O.B. buses were a greenish-black tint. With my history as a shuttle rider, I have been irked by the changes made to my beloved B.O.B.
This semester has seen the addition of two brand new routes. The North Route runs to the Northside parking lot as well as the U Club and the Apartment Route stops at U Club, Greenhouse/Enclave, The Lofts of Kennesaw, Sports & Recreation Park, Charlestowne and Town Point. With the addition of these new routes, the Black Route also added a stop at the Lofts of Kennesaw. B.O.B. now has more than doubled in size from last semester.
This rapid expansion is not without its own problems. Black Route riders have experienced longer wait times and ride times due to the additional stop at The Lofts of Kennesaw. The Apartment Route was too large, so it was split into two lines: one focusing solely on Town Point and Charlestowne and the other covering the rest of the Green Route.
Beth Tindel, Director of Parking & Transportation, said that “Initially, our apartment signups were significantly higher than our park and ride sign-ups.”
With this initial upsurge of apartment riders, it seemed that B.O.B. was going to solely focus on the apartments. These numbers have now equaled out with 263 apartment riders and 270 park and riders due to the on- campus parking areas filling up.
When I first started noticing the increased focus on apartment riders, I was upset. B.O.B. first started to get single occupancy vehicles off campus to reduce the parking problems. I never had a problem with getting to campus on time with B.O.B. last semester. Now the swift route development has led B.O.B. to be unreliable.
Buses will run back-to-back or even tailgate each other at the same time. The Lofts of Kennesaw stop on the Black Route has led to several instances of a bus from both the Black Route and Green Route arriving to pickup students at the same time. These kind of planning issues have started to lessen, but they are still an annoyance to students who trust B.O.B. to get them to class on time.
Tindel further explained that Parking & Transportation wishes to maintain an equal support
of both park and ride as well as apartment riders. I am glad that Parking & Transportation understands the difference between the two types of riders. I believe that they will do their best to maintain equality; however, the apartments that have B.O.B. stops pay $25,000 a school year for the service. That means there is an incentive to favor the apartments over park & ride.
The problem is that not all B.O.B. riders are assigned to the shuttle. Apartment students can still have on-campus parking and use B.O.B. with valid KSU identification. This leads to a larger demand on the apartment route, which means more support must be focused on those routes. In order to meet this demand, Blue Route and Black Route have additional stops at apartments.
I disagree with his method of answering the increased demand. I believe that the Black and Gold routes should focus solely on commuter demand. This will maintain the level of excellence that B.O.B. had last year. Apartment riders may experience longer wait times, but those who still have on- campus parking may decide to use that option and that will decrease the demand on those routes. Separate but equal bus lines are necessary to ensure that both parties get the service they deserve.
I am not attacking the people at Parking & Transportation. They have established a long- term plan for the shuttle that includes “plans for service to shopping, hopefully combined with another park and ride lot, such as to Wal-Mart or Target.”They hope to roll out this expansion within the next two years. Some students may gripe that this is a waste and Parking & Transportation should focus on a new parking deck, but they believe that the shuttle is a much cheaper and safer way of expanding parking without adding additional debt burden to the school. A new deck requires mandatory fee increase, land acquisition and approximately $1.5 million annually to pay off the deck.
B.O.B. makes sense for KSU as we are landlocked and hurting for space. The shuttle allows us to continue our growth as a university while not handicapping us financially. The only thing they need to do is get a handle on things so students can rely on being punctual with B.O.B. once again.
Nice job, Carl!
I’m impressed you worked “separate but equal” in there without sounding like a racist. But more to the point I agree with you for the most part. I am impressed with the plan you have decided to lay out and I’m glad you understand that there are students who abused the shuttle rather than using their own on campus parking pass.
I pose that all Freshman park in the lot behind WaffleHouse on Chastain. In most Universities Freshman are not allowed to have vehicles, which in KSU’s situation would be very difficult. But I certainly don’t believe that Freshman need the North parking deck right next to their dorm rooms.
There is plenty to be done about parking but I too must commend the department of Parking and Transportation for doing what they can to alleviate the difficulties students face.