Students may be able to catch a ride to the mall and to the cutting edge of environment-friendly transportation — if a planned Lane Transit District campus shuttle bus becomes a reality next year.
The hybrid electric bus would make seven stops on and near campus and take riders to the Fifth Street Market, Amtrak Station and Valley River Center. Plans for the shuttle bus and route will be reviewed by the Campus Planning Committee Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Chiles Business Center in Conference Room 228. The committee will decide whether to recommend the shuttle bus to University President Dave Frohnmayer or to postpone a decision.
If the committee decides not to recommend the plans, Frohnmayer can still move ahead with implementing the shuttle route, regardless of the committee’s decision.
Andy Vobora, a service planning manager with LTD, said the concept for a shuttle bus grew out of the fact that the demand for bus service in the campus area drops off in the evening. He said LTD decided to try and drum up service and find new customers by providing the shuttle bus in the campus area “rather than just pay the drivers to sit there.”
Five new stops on campus will supplement the existing two stops in the area, and the shuttle will run all day on weekdays and Saturdays, but will only come on campus after 6:30 p.m. The shuttle will continue to make runs on campus every 10 minutes until 10 p.m., Vobora said.
“I think it’s going to be a nice addition,” he said.
Vobora said the buses themselves are a new for LTD in that they run off electricity generated by a small diesel engine. He said the shuttle buses will be smaller, lower and also much quieter than the buses currently used by LTD.
“Our board wanted the leading edge for more ‘enviro-friendly’ vehicles,” he said.
Each bus is about 22 feet long and can hold up to 33 people, Vobora said.
Fred Tepfer, a planning associate with the Office of University Planning, said there are both pluses and minuses with the campus shuttle.
“Hey, from a safety point of view, it’s a dream,” he said, adding that students could get a bus ride to the mall or downtown straight from their residence hall.
But he said many people on campus “feel pretty protective of [13th Avenue] as a pedestrian area,” so there may be some concerns about bringing additional vehicular traffic down the closed street.
Rand Stamm, the parking and transportation manager for the Department of Public Safety, said the shuttle bus could provide a safe alternative for many people on campus.
“Definitely — that would enhance public safety,” he said.
Stamm said the shuttle bus fits into the campus well because it provides a safety resource in a way that is not that detrimental to the surrounding area.
“Both environmentally and socially, it’s a good idea,” he said. “It gets people out of the ‘one person, one car’ mindset.”