The Lane Transit District will preserve late-night service to the University next year if improvements to student behavior continue, an LTD spokesman said Monday.
The late-night route was threatened last week when bus drivers complained that rowdy behavior by drunk students on weekend nights was endangering bus operations. LTD responded by posting a security guard on the bus Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and notifying students that the route was threatened if their behavior did not improve.
The bus connects the University campus with student apartments north of the Willamette River between Monday and Saturday until 2 a.m.
LTD spokesman Andy Vobora said students’ behavior had improved after the security guard appeared on the bus, culminating in bus rides on Friday and Saturday that were freer of incident than any previous week’s late night rides, he said.
On Saturday night, a handful of drunk students rode the late-night 79x route. The smell of wine permeated the back of the bus and students yelled and cursed. As the bus was leaving the stop across the street from Rennie’s Landing, one passenger yelled “Brett’s throwing up!” and several students left to watch a student vomit somewhere near McKenzie Hall. When he came back, the student’s chin was dripping with drool, but he said he was feeling well. “Too many tacos,” he explained.
Other than that, bus driver Darryl Whitaker said, the ride was uneventful. “I don’t mind – except it’s past my bedtime,” Whitaker said. He said he had heard the bus was louder on Fridays, although Vobora disputed that claim.
Vobora said only one incident of bad behavior occurred this past weekend. He said students were trying to take an unconscious girl on the bus. When the guard stopped them, Vobora said, the students tried to convince other bus passengers to boycott the bus in protest.
“We contacted (the Department of) Public Safety and had them call a Designated Driver Shuttle for her,” Vobora said. “I don’t know if she actually used it.”
Vobora said the girl’s friends, who had threatened the boycott, caught the bus when it returned to the University.
The ASUO and University administration jointly funded the late-night route starting winter term to protect students who live in Kinsrow-area apartments from having to walk back to their homes through Alton Baker Park.
The concerns became especially acute when the University moved about 400 freshmen to Stadium Park because there was no open space in residence halls. Directors for campus shuttle services said the spike in demand for rides north of the McKenzie strained their capabilities.
Bus drivers object that conditions are still unsafe and say that providing a late-night bus used by students who have been drinking immoderately encourages underage drinking and bad behavior.
However, Designated Driver Shuttle co-director and ASUO Senator-elect Lyzi Diamond, who said the bus relieves pressure on DDS, rejected that impression. “That’s like saying giving out condoms encourages people to have sex,” Diamond said.
Vobora said LTD will decide whether to keep the service Monday. “At this point, we’re pretty confident (our service) will include the late-night service,” he said.
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Student conduct may affect LTD services
Daily Emerald
April 28, 2009
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