'Drunk bus' adds route on east side, changes hours

IU students living on Bloomington's east side will have a new option for getting home during the late-night weekend hours this semester.\nIU Transportation Services, working in conjunction with Bloomington Shuttle, announced the expansion of the late-night bus service to a third route that would encompass the east side of town.\nThe Midnight Special, also known as the "drunk bus," already provides north and south routes to IU students. The new east route will service students living on the east side of campus, including Eigenmann Hall, Tulip Tree Apartments and around the College Mall, including University Commons Apartments, Fields Apartments and Sterling University Glen Apartments.\nTransportation Services also announced it will shift all three routes' hours. The new times for the Midnight Special are 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. instead of 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. \nThe changes will be in effect as of Thursday. \nKent McDaniel, the assistant director for Transportation Services, credited the IU Student Association for suggesting the changes to meet students' needs.\n"Our goal is to provide the service that people wanted," McDaniel said. "IUSA suggested providing service for the eastern side of town. We're hoping the eastern route will help a lot and the new hours will help as well."\nWhen the current IUSA administration took office last fall, the leaders, led by President Casey Cox, wanted to make changes to the Midnight Special's services.\nExpanding the hours was one of their first suggestions, along with the additional route, Cox said.\n"This is really a great victory for us," Cox said. "It lets students know that student government can make a difference."\nChris Gourley, president of Bloomington Shuttle, Inc., said changing the service's hours is more realistic and serves students better, since the service had very few riders between 10 and 11 p.m.\n"I think (the changing of the hours) makes more sense," Gourley said. "The bars close at three, why close at three? It makes more sense to transport the rider-ship for after the businesses are closed."\nThe changes won't make a difference in students' wallets this semester. McDaniel said there is enough money in the budget to support the additional services. He said one dollar of a student's mandatory transportation fee currently pays for the late night service.\nHowever, a "small" increase, likely of an additional dollar, will be necessary for the fall of 2004, McDaniel said.\nFor the past three years, the Midnight Special has operated Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The shuttles start at 11 p.m. at the IMU, and the north and south routes take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The new east route, because of its length, will require two buses to provide the same service as the other routes.\nStudents need to be able to show a valid student ID to the bus driver if requested.\nThe expansion to the additional route and hours reflect the rapid rise in the use of the service. In 2001, the Midnight Special carried a total of 7,941 passengers. In 2003, the service carried 33,998 -- an approximate 328 percent increase.\nCox credited Alan Grant, IUSA's Vice President for Congress, for being instrumental in orchestrating the changes.\nGrant said with the amount of students being arrested for public intoxication these days, the newly expanded service will only help students avoid legal troubles while safely getting home.\n"We are not only keeping people from driving while intoxicated," Grant said, "We're keeping them from walking as well." \n-- Contact sports editor John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.