Bring Back TigerPAWW

Immortalized in everything from theTiger Magto F. Scott Fitzgerald’sThis Side of Paradise, the Dinky is an important part of Princeton culture. I have fond memories of riding into Princeton on the Dinky when I first came as on a tour as a high school sophomore. Yet, like any other culture, Princeton’s culture must change with the times. Dinky service and the campus’s transportation links to the outside world can be made better. But that does not mean that the culture has to be destroyed.

This past year, when the Dinky Station moved to its temporary location in a trailer, the introduction of the University’s TigerPaWW service showed us what a multimodal transit system could look like. I am a very strong believer in public transit, but I think that there is always room for improvement. Transit companies like the state-owned NJ Transit can be very efficient but they also can be extremely risk-averse. Any changes must go through layers of bureaucracy and review that are designed to protect the company’s shareholders, the people, but also inadvertently prevent it from doing anything truly innovative.

TigerPaWW was a perfect example of the private sector (in this case the University) stepping in to fill the gaps in public service. Although the TigerPaWW bus ran concurrently with the Dinky, NJ Transit’s data showed that people overwhelmingly preferred to ride the bus over the Dinky. In fact, Dinky ridership dropped by an astounding20 percentduring the time period when the TigerPaWW bus was active. While a more superficial analysis might indicate that this decrease in Dinky ridership was due to the free nature of the buses, as opposed to the $2.75 ticket price of the Dinky, I think that the change was the result of the convenience and flexibility that the bus brought with it. The bus ran more frequently and at different times than the Dinky did, which gave travelers greater flexibility. The bus, moreover, was able to better serve the residents of the town of Princeton when the Dinky station was moved further downhill.

The University originally introduced the TigerPaWW bus service because of the temporary disruptions to Dinky service. The lack of access to the dinky, vital to the community, caused much uproar. So much so thatsix lawsuitswere filed against the University because of the moving of the Dinky. Groups likeSave the Dinkysprouted up in an effort to reverse what they viewed as an attempt to remove Princeton’s sole rail link. The TigerPaWW bus was aimed at assuaging those concerns, as the bus’s College Road stop was closer to the original Dinky station. The new Dinky station has opened, but residents are still upset by the Arts and Transit Project. Clearly a better solution to the area’s transit problems is needed.

One way to improve the current transit options at the Transit Plaza would be the introduction of a new bus service running between the Dinky Station and a location on Nassau Street, say Fitz-Randolph Gate or Palmer Square. While there have been some calls for the construction of a light rail line from the Dinky station to areas further up campus, it’s simply unfeasible given the cost of such a project and the size constraints imposed by the campus. A bus line, however, offers the access that a rail line extension would bring but at a lower cost. This new bus route would not only help downtown businesses, but also provide a public service for the residents of town by bridging the current gap in bus service between those locations. Right now, there are buses like the Campus Circulator and the West Extension Line that stop at Princeton Station, but they circulate throughout other stops, which limits their usefulness for residents of the town of Princeton by increasing the overall travel time.

Another potential solution for the transit puzzle is Uber, which has quickly emerged as a competitor to not only the Dinky but also the local cab companies. An Uber ride from Princeton Station to Princeton Junction Station will cost roughly three times as much as a Dinky ticket, but that’s still significantly less than the amount charged by one of the black cabs. It can be easy to stereotype Uber as an unfair competitor in this transit market, but I welcome the rise of Uber. Uber has been a lifesaver for me many times when I either missed the Dinky through my own ineptitude at waking up on time or needed to catch a Princeton Junction train when the Dinky wasn’t running. Uber has found a corner of the market that they are able to exploit.

Public transit is meant for the public good, and it should be accordingly well supported. However, the University, under both its contractual obligations as well as its role as a major player in Princeton, has an obligation to ensure good transit access. For the sake of convenience and improved town-gown relations, I hope that the University will advocate for some sort of better transit solution.

Nicholas Wu isa freshman from Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. He can be reached at nmwu@princeton.edu.