Bus-riding students, unless you are taking summer school or are employed by the university, prepare for a summer of involuntary, calf-shaping hikes across the city. California State University, Long Beach has neglected to include free public transportation for its students over the summer break.
The free bussing program is organized between the university and LBT, under CSULB Financial Management Vice President Sharon Taylor’s watch. The way the program works is that the university pays for each time a student taps his or her card. This is great, this is excellent, this should be a year-round benefit.
“The program is to help the supply and demand for students,” Taylor said. “So in the summer we don’t have the same issues with supply and demand…The program is designed mainly to alleviate congestion on campus. We can’t afford to pay for that benefit other than to address that issue.”
Funding for this program comes from parking fines and permits. Has this revenue dissipated just because the temperature has risen a few degrees? Surely, with the money being spent on parking permits during the school year, it is in the budget to keep the program year-round.
This should not be an all-or-nothing scenario. Allow the students sticking around the area for the summer to keep their CSULB Tap cards activated. If a student does not need the amenity, then by all means, deactivate it.
CSULB has had a standing agreement with Long Beach Transportation since 2008 that allows students to ride busses for free, LBT media relations Kevin Lee said. CSULB designed the program to be offered to enrolled students and faculty, including those attending summer school.
“If there was no bus program… [CSULB] would have to build multi-million dollar parking structures to accommodate that,” Lee said.
LBT has drastically reduced traffic in the city, including on campus in the past decade. Before the program was introduced, about 12,000 people boarded Long Beach busses at the 17 stops on or around campus. By 2012, that frequency increased to 10,000,000, Lee said.
Obviously this free bussing program is widely used and beneficial to those who are a part of the CSULB community as well as the university itself, so why cut us off now?
As of last year, the average person in Los Angeles saved over $900 a month using public transportation instead of a personal car due to gas inflation, general automobile upkeep and insurance, according to American Public Transportation Association. So either walk, buy your own bus pass or prepare to shell out nearly 2 grand this season. Hopefully that summer job really pays off.
To throw more salt into the pedestrian’s proverbial wound, students must apply for a summer Tap card six to eight weeks in advance to get a student discount.
This does little good for those stranded in Long Beach for the summer, considering the university only gave the student body a week’s notice before suspending bus privileges for the summer.
Abandoned by the university and neglected to be told with advanced warning, local students must pay their own way. We are still CSULB students in the summer. Our Tap cards should reflect this.