New Shuttles Provide Better Service for Students

Image from the CSU Long Beach Shuttle homepage

The on-campus shuttles at CSULB are back and better than before.

Last month, the on-campus shuttles were affected by budget cuts and therefore ceased, forcing many students to walk or take normal bus routes. Times have changed now though, thanks to Elissa Thomas, Rideshare Coordinator at CSULB.

"The three-year contract with the former service provider ended May 31, 2009, so I had to write RFPs (Request for Proposals) to solicit competitive bids," Thomas said. "Then I need a committee to review and score each proposal to factors such as cost, safety record, driver training, insurance, safety record, and customer service."

The new shuttles are provided by Silverado Stages, which has the lowest hourly rate out of all the submitted companies. According to Thomas, Silverado Stages scored higher in every other category: best safety record, driver training, insurance, and customer service and the equipped shuttles are the best in terms of safety, comfort, and environment.

There is also the major feature of convenience with these Silverado Stages shuttles. These shuttles are also equipped with Syncromatics' AVL and APC systems, which provide real-time tracking of each shuttle on a live map, provide how full each shuttle is, and the exact time of stops on routes. Students can go to the CSU Long Beach Shuttle page from either phone or computer to see all of these amazing new features. There are even alerts students can set up if they want to meet a specific shuttle at a certain time or location.

Silverado Stages has the same stop schedule that CSULB has always had, but with the Syncromatics system, the drivers and operation managers can plan ahead to avoid the problem of "bunching," which is when there is a shuttle right behind another shuttle.

"Silverado Stages has been doing a great job of making sure that each shuttle is equidistant from the other shuttle it shares the route with to provide consistent and timely service throughout the entire campus," Thomas said.

Lot 2 Will Vanish, Turned into Extension for Nursing Building

Less parking will be available next year, even if it was the size of the little Lot 2 next to the nursing building.

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Oct. 28 for the upcoming single-story teaching building, which will take 10 months to build and actually be ready to use by August 2010.

This building, which will cost $5.5 million when approved by the California State University board of trustees in fall 2008, will be approximately 10,800 square-feet and replace 40 to 50 faculty parking spaces in Lot 2. Now the faculty that will have used to park in Lot 2 will be given student-held parking spaces in Lot 18, located on the west campus next to Student Health Services, which consists of student as well as employee and faculty parking spots.

This building will only be one-story due to lack of funds, specifically $2 million. At the current project, this building will fail to see any future growth or expansion due to the limiting foundation.

A good addition to the nursing department and students, who will benefit from this building addition. However, this will constrain parking even more, something most students would rather not look forward to.

Photo credit: Huy Vo / Daily 49er
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