Bus rides are free (and faster?)
UW-Green Bay and the city of Green Bay have renewed an agreement that lets members of the campus community ride city buses at no extra cost with a valid University ID card. The one-year U-Pass extension continues the arrangement through June 2011.
UW-Green Bay will reimburse the city $35,000, a subsidy made possible by tapping some of the revenue from the sale of campus parking permits, and by student leaders delegating a portion of their activity fees toward unlimited use of city bus services.
The main UW-Green Bay bus stop is located at the Circle Drive Entrance to the Cofrin Library’s lower level. (A bus arrives and departs every 30 minutes during the workday, at roughly 15 minutes and again at 45 minutes after the hour. Just flash your ID card, and hop aboard.) The other campus bus stop is on North Circle Drive near the Residence Life complex.
The city and the University are exploring the addition of direct morning and afternoon bus routes between campus and the downtown transfer station located near University and Webster. Last year Green Bay Metro made route changes that were more convenient to UW-Green Bay campus users. Any additional changes would likely involve a more direct trip with fewer meanderings to serve adjoining neighborhoods, at least at select times, to shave travel time off the downtown-campus leg of the commute.
WBAY-TV reported recently that University officials would like to see alternative routes that cut travel time in half.
“Times of the day where we could do a direct route to the campus, for example the beginning of the day in the mornings and at the end of the day returning back down to Green Bay transit,” Chief Randy Christopherson of UW Green Bay Public Safety told the reporter. “Buses at UW Green Bay take about half an hour to arrive (at, and from, the downtown transfer station) with multiple stops in between. For students who live far from campus, their schedules have to revolve around the bus schedules.”
Photo by Todd Sanders, UW-Green Bay Dean of Students Office
