2008 Woodie Awards
Student interest in off-campus service keeps shuttle busy
Rick Kurker '09
Issue date: 10/12/06 Section: News
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Sharon Hay, director of the Student-Activities-Involvement-Leadership/Slavin Center (S.A.I.L.) Office, said Providence College used school buses as a means of transportation for students until about 15 years ago, when the College adopted professional security services with vans. In particular, the buses were used for getting students to their apartments safely. The buses ran seven days a week, all day and all night. The situation changed when the College entered a partnership with RIPTA, and the daytime shuttle was eliminated. Now the College has an evening neighborhood shuttle and a community service shuttle.
Providence College's current neighborhood shuttle runs from 6:00 p.m. to well past midnight, with varying hours based on the day of the week. According to Hay, the number of users varies on a daily basis, but more students tend to take advantage of the shuttle in poor weather as well as on Fridays and Saturdays.
"The neighborhood shuttle's route is approximately 20 minutes long," Hay said, "but it does not have any real stops because it is not permitted to make bus stops."
Because the shuttle is not licensed to make stops, it continually runs its route, and students may flag it down if they need to use it, Hay said. The route flexibility is limited, and the shuttle tends to stay on course and not go astray from its loop. However, because the shuttle has no stops, it also has no real schedule, and since there is only one shuttle, students must therefore allow for some extra time when picking up the shuttle because it could turn up any time within the 20 minute route interval.
Another transportation option for students is the community service shuttle.