SLCC serves up new inter-campus shuttle

Salt Lake Community College students will be getting a lift between select campuses via a new shuttle bus service this fall. The B-line shuttle will be free for students, faculty and staff possessing a OneCard.

The B-line is a pilot program beginning this year and may be extended to other campuses in the future. the shuttle begins service Aug. 6, 2012. It will pick up hourly at the South City Campus, stop at Meadowbrook Campus and end at Taylorsville Redwood Campus. The returning shuttle will depart from Taylorsville Redwood Campus every half hour.

“I think it would be easier to get to each class on time,” said SLCC Student Alvaro Martinez who commutes between campuses. “It takes a while to get on TRAX because you have to wait for everybody, but if there’s a shuttle that gets me from here to [other campuses], that would be a lot easier to get around.”

The purpose of this service is to provide students an affordable way to travel between the different campuses across town. It is a collaborative effort between the school administration and the student body. According to Student Body President Aaron Starks, with gas and UTA prices going up, this was a way to help students with travel costs.

“Assuming it’s successful, we’re going to measure it this year and see if we’ll add a route to go to Miller and Jordan next year,” said Jason Beal, Student Center and Auxiliary Services director at SLCC. “It’s just to help to get students from campus to campus. We have a lot of students that are taking classes on multiple campuses.”

According to Beal, the shuttle service will be funded through student fees. More information about the funding was not available at this time.

They are in the development stage still but information and flyers will be sent out and posted on MyPage.

Beal said they are contracting jobs and buses through the University of Utah. The U of U is implementing a pilot program of their own as they replace many of their diesel shuttles with electric and natural gas buses this fall.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Erik Dunn, Student Center employee at the information kiosk on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus. “It probably will help the students get here without having to spend too much more money especially if they live out in Ogden and take FrontRunner. I’m sure it helps them to get to the campus a lot quicker where you don’t have to go to every bus stop.”

The route will begin at the South City Campus east entrance every hour on the hour. It will then stop at the Meadowbrook TRAX station and then continue to the Taylorsville Redwood Campus north bus stop. It will depart every half hour from the Taylorsville Redwood Campus along a reverse route back to South City Campus. Service will run Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. except on holidays and school breaks.

“We’re excited for it,” said Beal. “We hope that folks take advantage of it.”