By Peijean Tsai
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
 BruinGo! routes
Students can use their BruinCard to ride the Big Blue Bus around
Los Angeles for free
Getting off campus and around Los Angeles isn’t the hassle
it could be, thanks to the BruinGo! program, which offers free bus
transportation simply with the swipe of a valid Bruin
card.
The program, entering its third year this fall, allows UCLA
students, faculty and employees to ride the Santa Monica Big Blue
Bus free of charge during the regular school year from the end of
September to mid-June. While the program waives fares for
individuals, it costs UCLA transportation services 45 cents per
person, a discounted rate from the regular 50-cent fare.
The program benefits students who commute to campus, do not have
cars, or are denied parking because of the high demand for
permits.
Most first-year students who live in on-campus dormitories do
not have their own cars, and often have no way of getting away
from campus, said Imelda DeVera, a fourth-year molecular, cell and
developmental biology student.
Whether they live a car-less existence or were denied
parking, first-years can benefit from a free transportation system
like BruinGo!, she said.
Though the UCLA campus and Westwood offer adequate resources for
students within walking distance, students often want to explore
other areas of Los Angeles, said DeVera.
“If you’re looking for a different scene like new
places to study or for movies that can only be seen at the Laemmle
and not at the Mann on every corner (in Westwood), the Big Blue Bus
is your friend,” she said.
For some students, the advantages of BruinGo! extend beyond
recreational convenience.
The program opens up housing options for students, allowing them
to consider locations other than those on or near campus by giving
commuter students free public transportation, said Vinh Le, a
fourth-year economics and history student.
High rent rates in Westwood exploit students who want to be
closer to campus, but BruinGo! allows students to live farther away
and pay lower rents, said Le. Students not only save money by
having the option of living outside of high-priced Westwood, but by
taking the Big Blue Bus instead of driving they save the money that
would be spent on insurance and other personal transportation
costs, he said.
“With BruinGo! the money saved from living far away is no
longer wasted on having to get a car,” Le added.
While the program makes recreational travel more convenient and
“provides a broad range of benefits for
transportation,” it was established mainly to reduce the high
demand for campus parking by encouraging commuter students and
faculty to take the bus, said Mark Stocki, Director of UCLA
Transportation Services.
The issue of whether the program had fulfilled this goal was
questioned in May, when UCLA Transportation Services evaluated the
program’s effectiveness against its costs as Chancellor
Albert Carnesale considered whether to continue it or not during
the 2002-’03 year.
Over the past year, student usage ““ as recorded by
information from card swipes as individuals board the bus ““
has increased approximately 40 percent, showing that the program
has become more popular, said Stocki.
Despite the apparent rise in the program’s popularity,
however, the figures do not reflect an increased usage for solely
commuting purposes, as there has not been a significant reduction
in the demand for campus parking, he said.
During the 2001-’02 year, the program cost $900,000 to
implement, $618,000 of which was funded by a Metro Transportation
Authority grant and the remainder from revenues from the sale of
parking permits, Stocki said.
Since grants like these are not typically available, funding for
the BruinGo! Program during the 2002-’03 year will come
solely out of parking revenues.
Despite the debate over funding in the future, Stocki is
“very optimistic” about the program’s
continuation beyond the 2002-2003 year and hopes that the program
will succeed in providing its primary goal of helping those who
commute to campus.
The continuation of the free transportation system during the
2002-’03 school year will especially be helpful to commuters,
as the Santa Monica City Council will raise Big Blue Bus rates by
50 percent on July 1, hiking the cost of a trip from 50 cents to 75
cents.