IUSA approves campus busing fee

The IU Student Association Congress stamped its seal of approval on a proposal Tuesday that would increase students' transportation fees by $30 next year. The fee would allow students to ride all campus buses simply by showing their student IDs.\nThe buses, which currently require a $158 year-long pass or 75 cents per ride, would work on the same system as the Bloomington Transit system, which only requires a student ID to ride. \nThe proposal, also called the Universal Bus Pass Initiative, was first brought to attention in 1997. But it was not until Tuesday night that the IUSA finally decided to pass the bill. At this point, the proposal only needs to be approved by the IU board of trustees.\n"As far as I understand, the transportation committee on campus already wants to do this and wanted to know if the students approved," IUSA Congress member Dan Shapiro said. "As far as I understand, this will be the way things work in the fall."\nMany students were frustrated with the fact they had to pay to ride a bus on top of paying a mandatory transportation fee, Shapiro said. The idea behind the proposal was to change it so every student has easy access to the buses.\nThe bill had enough Congressional support to pass through the IUSA but had several issues.The idea of charging every student for a service that will only be used by a percentage of the student body was one such issue, Shapiro said.\n"There are something like 5,500 students who currently purchased bus passes," he said. "So rather than charge the 5,500 that use it, you are charging 38,000 students a fee."\nIf the buses were to become free to all riders, a stark increase in the number of riders would be expected. The increased amount would draw question to the issue of overcrowding, said Jim Hosler, director of campus bus services.\n"The fee rate they are requesting would only be enough to cover the existing level of service," Hosler said. "An increase in those hours would need an increase in buses and drivers, which would require an additional fee."\nAlthough some worry about bus overcrowding, the hope of IUSA is that creating a free campus bus system will even out the number of students who strictly use the Bloomington Transit buses with campus buses, said IUSA President Casey Cox. Students who live on campus will no longer be forced to drive out to the stadium and ride the shuttle service.\nNothing will truly be determined until the plan is implemented. From there, the transportation department will decide whether or not more buses or drivers are in order, Hosler said. \nThe proposal will now go to a committee that will prepare it for the board of trustees. If approved, it could be enacted by as early as next fall.\n"Whether you agree with the transportation policy or not, you have to recognize that right now there is a general inequity going on between on-campus and off-campus students," Cox said. "Any measure we can take to advance what is inevitably going to happen and reduce that inequity right now I think is a good thing"