Cal State University Long Beach’s Sustainable Transportation Program is asking its campus community to provide feedback regarding the university shuttle system, according to CSULB Associate Vice President of Public Affairs Terri Carbaugh.
The feedback should include whether the shuttle system ought to be expanded in order to alleviate parking stresses, Carbaugh said.
CSULB has employed a consulting firm to help assist with examining the services provided by the campus Shuttle. The university is evaluating existing shuttle operations and route options, shuttle route configuration and frequencies and possible new routes, Carbaugh said.
Carbaugh said the university is experiencing extremely high student enrollment rates this year, and the study will help gauge the flow of traffic on campus.
“What we don’t want when we hit higher enrollments is we don’t want students to feel like they’re on a crowded and congested campus,” Carbaugh said. “We want students to feel like there is ease of movement [through the campus], and the shuttles are an important part of that.”
Students, faculty and staff can give feedback on an online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSULBShuttle.
Brandon Hojo, a third year film major, said he is hoping for smoother and quicker rides on the campus shuttles in the future.
“Sometimes it can be really packed [in the shuttle], and sometimes the driver will wait for a long time at the stop,” Hojo said. “The driver would pull up and just sit there, and at times I felt like yelling ‘Go!’”
The shuttle study is also looking at further integration into the community and for ways to improve alternative transportation options in underserved areas, Carbaugh said.
Gina Heinzmann, an international student from Germany studying theatre at CSULB, said she would like the campus shuttle system to travel further into the surrounding community to pick up students. She lives in the Bixby Knolls apartments on San Antonio Drive and often rides the Long Beach Transit Bus to school.
Heinzmann said CSULB should expand its shuttle system so more students can experience alternative transportation and assuage parking stresses.
“It’s really awful to take the public bus sometimes because it takes forever, so it would be pretty cool if there was a campus shuttle that stopped near my apartment,” Heinzmann said. “It doesn’t have to stop right in front of my door, but somewhere near where I can reach it to take directly to campus.”
