Unmarked vans shuttle students
Today I discovered a good post posted earlier today, by the Editorial Staff, over on The Carroll News entitled Unmarked vans shuttle students that I strongly suggest you all read. Here are some little excerpts to whet your appetites!
Riders need assurance that the shuttle system is safe and should have no doubts that the drivers are JCU employees. Students should not risk taking rides in vans that fail to prove their association with JCU. Since JCU does not own the unmarked van, the University should mark the van with a magnetic logo or a static cling decal. These options would neither damage nor permanently alter the appearance of the van. If JCU finds it necessary to purchase a third van, it must label the van with a permanent JCU logo before the van is used as part of the shuttle service. In addition to adding a logo to the unmarked van, all shuttle drivers should wear JCU attire and should have an identification card that is visible to riders. These safety precautions ensure that students and University employees who park in the Target parking lot or who use the shuttle as transportation to other local spots arrive safely at their destinations.
Reading the Editorial Staff’s article got me thinking so I did a google search for some more articles on the subject and discovered some more gems. For example, New ?Fan Vans? Shuttle Support to Away Games ? posted a fortnight ago, by unknown, on The Wesleyan Argus:
The first Fan Van will take students to Williams College to support the football team at Williams’ Homecoming game. Nicole Okai ’14, WSA Transportation Committee Representative, came up with the idea for the buses because of a similar concept at her high school. “When I thought of the idea, I had the Williams game in mind because I knew that it was coming up,” Okai said. “Football was the reason I wanted to implement this here, because if you look at their season they’ve only had two home games so far. You rarely hear people talking about going to away games, so it’d be nice for there to be something like this available to students.” Okai brought the idea to WSA Transportation Committee Chair Zachary Malter ’13, who worked with her to set up the program and obtain funding from the Student Budget Committee (SBC). “We’re hoping the SBC will continue to fund more events,” Malter said. “We want to have events for a variety of different sports in both men’s and women’s teams.
Yet another fine article on the subject came from Seth on University City Off The Grid posted back in October and entitled UPenn Buses Run on Biodiesel; Shuttle Vans on Propane « University … which is also definitely worth a read!
As a student who regularly uses Penn Transit for late night/early morning commutes from school, I’m eager to ride in one of the new, colorfully wrapped, low-emission vehicles. Will it have that new car smell? …Or will it smell “green?” Penn Transit has purchased eight new low-emission vehicles: four buses capable of running on both ultra-low sulfur diesel and biodiesel fuels, and four propane-powered shuttle vans. Vehicles running on liquid propane produce 50 percent less tail pipe emissions than regular gasoline. “The green buses are part of Penn’s new Sustainable Transportation Initiative rolling out over the next few months in support of the University’s Climate Action Plan and in concert with the Green Campus Partnership,” explains Marie Witt, vice president of the Business Services Division, who oversees Transportation Services. To celebrate the vehicles’ reduced environmental footprint, they are being encased in green-themed wraps.