Universities and transit

1. I keep forgetting to mention that the University of Maryland bus system will be opened up to College Park residents, but not beyond that. (I still say that some bus services that go to Hyattsville ought to be opened up to Hyattsville-University Park-Riverdale Park residents too.) See "Greenbelt residents to ride University of Maryland shuttle," from the Gazette. The headline is incorrect, it's only for College Park residents, who will have to buy a $50/year/bus pass.

2. The VTA conference featured a session on improving student ridership. I found out that the Fairfax City CUE bus service is funding jointly by George Mason University and the City of Fairfax, that CUE stands for "City University Express" although GMU has since created some additional bus services not part of the CUE system.

GMU students and employees with ID cards ride "free." GMU pays $370,000 towards the service.

3. Plus, the Valley Metro system in Roanoke won an award for the most innovative transit project, which provides free transit to children 18 years old and under. This project was initiated by high school students.

4. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota is proposing an alternative light rail scenario that interferes with the likelihood of cost-effectiveness criteria-benchmarks that have to be reached in order to succeed at winning federal funding. See "U's rail route would fail federal scoring by large margin, study says," from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

5. Ironically, this is the same issue that the Purple Line has with the University of Maryland. Like in Minnesota, it seems that the other entities realize that the preferred university alignment doesn't make sense...

6. And Norfolk State University's current administration wants more from Hampton Roads Transit than the previous administration had requested. (See "NSU, HRT spar on who knew what and when about light rail," from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.)

One of the commenters on the article said:

What is weird is when I used to take the San Diego Trolley (light-rail).. The City College stop downtown was one of the most popular stops on the trolley. I mean the cars would practically unload & refill in the morning & evening commute. The students were spared the parking problems, were on time for classes, & seemed as a whole satisfied with the system. We are in the public transportation "Stone Age" here. The bus doesn't' run evenings, & I think on Sunday either. I think light rail is seriously needed here, in all of Hampton Roads, and on a far greater scale, than is planned. Our public transportation in the area is poor at best, & light rail might be the answer to a commuter's prayers as fuel prices rise, population density increases... with the corresponding parking nightmares that are sure to follow suit.

7. Meanwhile, Portland State University and the Oregon Health Sciences University are strong proponents and funders (and in the case of OHSU, managers of the aerial tram) of streetcar system development and service in Portland, Oregon.