U. adds 10 buses to campus fleet

In keeping with the University’s Sustainability Plan, the 10 new 30-passenger buses will run on B20 biodiesel fuel. The new vehicles will join the four 14-passenger biodiesel buses that were introduced with the launch of the TigerTransit system last January. These biodiesel buses emit less carbon dioxide than the standard diesel 30-passenger buses the University used last spring. The old diesel buses will only be used as needed during high-volume times.

The Sustainability Plan, released in February 2008, calls for reductions in greenhouse gas production through changes in vehicle emissions and transportation services like TigerTransit. The plan also calls for resource conservation, research, education and civic engagement.

In addition to increased seating capacity, the new buses have doors in the front and the back, lower floors, space for two wheelchairs and a rear-access wheelchair ramp for increased handicapped accessibility. Buses will have front racks with space to accommodate two bicycles. LED displays on the front and sides of the buses will be visible at night, and the TigerTracker feature will allow users to track the buses’ real-time locations via GPS online or by cell phone.

Several shuttle routes have changed. Graduate students will now be able to depart for Princeton and Nassau Park shopping outlets from graduate housing complexes, and the Campus Circular line will now run from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on weekdays. This line will replace the former Campus Circular route that provided daytime service, and it will connect to graduate housing units. The Express Line between the Lawrence Apartments and the Friend Center has also been renamed the Tiger Line.

Additional access to graduate student housing complexes comes after widespread protests among graduate students when TigerTransit instituted cuts last April. In the face of tight finances, the University reduced the number of shuttles running during the day and ended the On-Demand service one hour earlier, at 2 a.m. The Saturday Shopper and Saturday Campus Connection lines were also eliminated to have enough funds for the remainder of the year, Director of Transportation and Parking Services Kim Jackson told The Daily Princetonian on April 16.

“Continuing the weekend services would have meant not having enough funding for any services in May, and therefore not being able to provide service to primary locations, such as classes and offices,” Jackson said. “We felt it was better to scale back some of the services rather than disrupt all of the services.”

Now, graduate students again have direct access to shopping centers like Wegman’s, Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart along Route 1 via the Nassau Park Boulevard Line, which runs every other Saturday. On alternating Saturdays, the Nassau & Harrison Line provides service from graduate housing locations to businesses along Nassau and Harrison streets.

The West Line, which runs between the Princeton Theological Seminary apartments and Palmer Square, has also expanded to offer Nassau Street service to the Friend Center and Robertson Hall on weekdays, a stop at the MarketFair center, and beginning on Nov. 2, service to 701 Carnegie Center, which houses University treasury operations and several information technology departments.