New TigerTransit lines propose better access to EQuad, Boathouse

TigerTransit will pilot two new bus lines, one between Princeton Station and the EQuad and the other between Princeton Station and the Boathouse, from Feb. 29 to March 11, according to Undergraduate Student Government President Aleksandra Czulak ’17.

The bus on the EQuad loop will run approximately every 30 minutes between 7:30 a.m. and noon, and again between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Service will run approximately every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to noon and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the Boathouse loop.

The EQuad route will begin at Princeton Station, near Forbes College, and proceed to Goheen Walk, Alexander Hall, the Friend Center, the Wilson School and end at Palmer Square before returning to Princeton Station. The Boathouse loop service will start at Princeton Station and go to Goheen Walk and Alexander Hall, finishing at the Boathouse and stopping at Icahn Lab along the way after 8:15 a.m.

Kim Jackson, director of Transportation and Parking Services, wrote in a statement via email that last year TPS hired consultants to evaluate the TigerTransit system.

“The consultants rode various bus lines, held focus groups with all riders, including undergraduate students and administered a survey to both users and non-users of the system,” she noted.

She added that she held discussions with USG members about how to optimize TigerTransit for undergraduate students as an alternative and effective way of moving around campus.

Czulak said that in the past two years, better transportation around campus, especially buses to Forbes, has come up as an issue that students would like to be addressed. She explained that the USG “What Matters” survey, which provided several suggestions for USG initiatives and asked students to rank which are most important to them, has revealed that parking and transit on campus is something students would like USG to work on. She added that USG had received similar feedback from door-to-door campaigning and general or informal conversations with students.

"We knew that from conversations with students that Forbes, the EQuad and the Boathouse, and even Jadwin Gym, were all places that students wanted better access to,” she said.

Czulak added that the Icahn stop on the Boathouse loop is directly across from Jadwin Gym, which will impact students who have practice there in addition to students on the crew team.

“We focused on routes taken by Forbes students to the EQuad area, Rocky students to Jadwin Hall, Icahn and Peretsman Scully buildings and lastly on how athletes with early morning practices and afternoon practices ending close to when dining halls stop serving dinner, might be assisted in their travels by TigerTransit,” Jackson added.

Jackson wrote that after the pilot, TPS will gather feedback and look at how many people rode the new routes. She wrote that after the evaluation process, potential new routes and stops would be considered to be implemented as part of the permanent TigerTransit routes in September 2016.

“We will look at ways to incorporate the stops on the piloted routes into existing TigerTransit routes without changing our current level of service,” she added.

Amy Zhang ’19, a Forbesian who takes classes in the EQuad, said that walking between the two could take 25-30 minutes. She noted that many Forbesians ride a bike, but even that can take 15 minutes and is all uphill.

"It's definitely a welcome change, but it is kind of annoying to have to check the times. Sometimes the bus itself takes 10-15 minutes because it stops at other places,” Zhang said about the new bus lines.

She added that she had looked at the schedule and noticed that the bus is often scheduled to arrive at the Friend Center at 41 or 51 minutes after the hour, which for some might be too early to arrive to class.

Czulak explained that to gather feedback, she will include a link to a Google Form on both her USG emails this week and next week. Students will be able to submit feedback through the form, which will also be publicized on Facebook, through listservs and potentially through Directors of Student Life in residential colleges, she said.

The Google Form to gather feedback will remain open until after the pilot program ends on Friday March 11, Czulak said.