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For students who skipped the L.A. Marathon yesterday, you may be
in luck. Since the university might stop paying for its students to
ride the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, you’ll have plenty of
opportunities to make up for missed miles by walking to school.
It’s puzzling why UCLA Transportation Services has balked
at Santa Monica Big Blue Bus’ proposal to increase bus fares
by 25 cents. After all, the fare increase helps pay for the new
lines which will increase service by 46 percent and improves
on-time performance to relieve overcrowding on buses. This is a
small price to pay for the added convenience and reliability so
many students who take the bus depend on.
UCLA Transportation Services cannot afford to let the fare
increase defeat the successful BruinGo! program, which allows UCLA
students to ride for free with a swipe of a Bruin Card. Having the
program remain in tact will discourage students who live farther
away from campus from driving to UCLA individually, reducing the
demand for parking. Given the need to prioritize budget
expenditures, this would suit UCLA best. The cost of building just
23 parking spaces at UCLA averages about $1 million ““ enough
to fund the BruinGo! bus program for a year. If UCLA has $44
million to spend on building 1,500 parking spaces, then it can
afford to provide up an extra half-million to subsidize 200,000 bus
rides a year.
If not, then students will have to bear the burden by paying the
increased bus fare themselves or by investing in a comfortable pair
of walking shoes.