Many Texas Tech students are raising concerns about why the Student Government Association is eliminating the West Fourth Street bus route.
Geff Molzow, a senior psychology major from Tuscan, Ariz., is sight-impaired and has lived at The Meridian, an apartment complex along the bus route, for four years. He said he is upset with the SGA's decision to eliminate the route.
"I will be sick to move," Molzow said. "This is my home."
Molzow said he is skeptical of the reasons behind the decision to eliminate the route. He said he believes a lot more people ride the West Fourth Street bus than the SGA claimed.
"Five hundred maybe per bus," Molzow said. "Between 7:30 and 9:30 in the morning you are going to see people standing."
Hoyt Day, director of transportation at Citibus, said bus drivers tally the students who get on the bus, and the numbers are totaled at the end of the day. He said rider counts usually average about 900 daily for the West Fourth Bus Route.
Different counts included: Feb. 5: 978 passengers; Feb. 6: 987 passengers; and Feb. 8: 899 passengers.
Day said it should be taken into account that many of students are counted twice: once when going to campus and once when leaving.
The SGA told The Daily Toreador 300 to 500 students ride the West Fourth Street bus daily.
Chris Huff, SGA external vice president, said the decision to eliminate the route was made to make transportation for students more efficient.
"The reason I give a range (300 to 500 passengers) is because different students ride at different times, and there is really no way of knowing," Huff said. "West Fourth Street Route has a surplus in service and hours that will save. I don't think a lot of students realize the West Fourth Route is a major route and uses more hours than Overton. The decision has nothing to do with income, strictly to do with hours."
Philip Pride, a junior Latin-American and Iberian studios major from Alice, said regardless of the number of students riding the bus, he is upset. He said he finds it striking the SGA is eliminating a route that services lower-income places while keeping the bus route that serves students living in the more expensive apartment complexes closer to campus.
"It seems like they made that decision based on class, not on actual reasoning," Pride said. "It just seems like they care more about the kids that have more money and kind of disregard the kids from lower-income families who want to pay less for living."
Pride said he timed the Overton route to see how long it took to ride versus walk. He said it took 12 minutes to ride the bus and 10 minutes to walk the same distance.
"I don't want them to take away Overton (bus route)," Pride said, "I just think it is disheartening that they are taking away services to lower-income kids."
Molzow said he believes the SGA could easily keep the route by making adjustments to existing routes.
"They are paying by the hour, not by the miles," Molzow said. "If you took off one bus from Red Raider, one from Double T and one from somewhere else, you could keep (West Fourth Street) route."
Molzow said he would gladly pay a bus fee to continue using the bus and does not understand where the savings are coming from if hours are just going to be reallocated.
"I can live comfortably in an apartment due to transportation," Molzow said. "To take that arbitrarily is absolutely unfair and doesn't save them any money. If someone would show me the savings, I would turn around and say I'm wrong."
Jennie Kirksey, apartment manager for The Meridian, said what bothers her the most about the SGA's decision is the way it was handled.
"It would have been nice to for the SGA to have a meeting and say 'hey, do y'all have any ideas,'" Kirksey said.
There has not been a bus stop at The Meridian since the SGA got rid of it last summer, Kirksey said.
"They gave us a month or a month and a half (last summer) to come up with $5000 and said 'or we are taking down the (bus stop) sign' and then they did," Kirksey said.
Unlike The Reserve, Kirksey said The Meridian is not 100 percent student-occupied and therefore the company could not afford to buy a bus.
"It is not hurting us," Kirksey said. "It is hurting the students."
Huff said he understands frustration with the change, but he said he believes education on the issue can solve any misunderstandings the students may have about the motives behind the removal of the route.
I completely understand why they (students) may be wondering this and I want them too," he said. "I want them to come to me so I can know what their concerns are. I'm trying to provide the best service for as many students possible."
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