A weekend trip to Navy Pier could become quicker and easier.
The Associated Student Government is proposing a weekend shuttle that would run to Chicago hot spots.
ASG’s external relations committee said it hopes the shuttles would increase entertainment options. The Student-Community Relations Taskforce discussed during its fall meeting the possibility that students consumed alcohol because of the lack of activities in Evanston.
“Drinking was blown out of proportion in the fall because there wasn’t enough alternative entertainment in the Evanston area,” said Communication senior Kate Pascale, chairwoman of the external relations committee. “It creates a real problem in the neighborhood.”
There are six proposals to address the drinking problem – one of which is shortening New Student Week. The proposals have been presented to administrators, according to ASG President Jon Webber, a Weinberg senior.
The committee has focused on the shuttle plan to increase weekend activities. Students currently can use the intercampus shuttle, which transports them between the Evanston and Chicago NU campuses.
But the shuttle doesn’t operate on the weekends, stops running at about 11 p.m. on weeknights and doesn’t have stops near popular Chicago sites.
“The current shuttle stops (early) on Fridays, and there’s nothing to bring (students) back north,” Pascale said. “Our shuttle would bring them back from downtown Chicago late evening on Friday and back and forth on the weekend.”
As of preliminary planning last fall, the new shuttle would operate for 12 hours a day on weekends to sites like Millennium Park. The details are likely to change depending on funding, said Marguerita Grzeszczuk, university services manager.
A poll to gather student opinion on the subject will run on NU Link starting today.
Despite requests for a Chicago shuttle, university administrators have not formally looked into adding the service because of funding.
The shuttle would cost about $80 per hour. The price could change according to the number of hours the bus would operate, the available funding, the quality of the buses and the chosen shuttle contractor, Grzeszczuk said. She spoke with representatives from the current university shuttle provider, Shuttle America, and based the price on its rates.
“If we can get over the biggest hurdle of funding,” Grzeszczuk said, “the Saturday shuttle is feasible.”
The shuttles are mostly funded by the administration, with a percentage coming from the Office of Student Affairs and various departments. Grzeszczuk estimates that the intercampus shuttle costs about $1.5 million annually.
“Ideally, I think any student would rather see the school funding it than paying for it themselves,” Pascale said. “There are several funding options we’re looking into. It could be student funded. We’d like to see the administration fund it as much as possible.”
Reach Alice Truong at [email protected].
