The wheels of the DSG shuttles will keep on turning.
The ridership for Duke Student Government's Chapel Hill bus service has tapered off in the last few weeks, but DSG officials said they are optimistic about the service and are looking for ways to expand the number of locations currently served. DSG's other shuttle route, which runs to George's Garage, is scheduled to end its trial period Nov. 20, but officials have extended the original three-week test to compile more information about student interest and the service's cost effectiveness.
Both shuttles will be re-evaluated during their extensions, and, if necessary, DSG will revamp facets of the collective shuttle service. Regardless of the outcomes of the coming period, DSG plans to launch bus transportation to Brightleaf Square Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. This Thursday will also mark the fifth week of trial runs to George's Garage, a service that began Oct. 23. The shuttles have typically been running to the restaurant regularly from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The new Brightleaf shuttle pushes the total number of transportation services provided by DSG this semester to four: one to South Square Mall that ended Sept. 20, the two that are still in operation-the first of which, Chapel Hill, began six weeks and the second, George's Garage, began about one month ago-and the new route to Brightleaf.
With recent concerns about safety off of East Campus, many students have looked to the George's/Ninth Street shuttle service as a safe, convenient solution.
"As long as funding is there, transportation to George's will be continuing," said DSG President and Trinity senior Lino Marrero. "I just want to look at the end of the semester." Several sources, including Duke Stores and University Auxiliary Services, provide the funding that pays for both Duke Transit and Southern Coach, the two bus companies that provide the transportation.
Trinity senior Atabak Mokari, DSG director of special projects, agreed with Marrero's call for an extended review period.
"We are always in a 'trial period' with... our shuttle services," Mokari explained.
David Majestic, director of planning and auxiliary services, provided ridership statistics for the George's shuttles. The trend for the service's three weeks indicates that the George's shuttles were heavily used for the first few weeks but experienced a substantial drop in riders from the second to third week.
On Oct. 16-the shuttle's first night of operation-55 students rode the buses; 75 students utilized the transportation on Halloween. The figures declined dramatically the next week, however, as only 8 students used the service. It rebounded last week, with 46 students taking the shuttle. According to Majestic's figures, the cost of running the shuttle is $5.11 per student..
Although the numbers seem to indicate that student interest is slipping, DSG officials said the overall response has been positive.
"There are different ways of evaluating [the system]," Marrero said, "and there are a lot of factors [to be considered.]"
Students continue to use the Chapel Hill shuttle service, but overall ridership has declined significantly from its initial weeks. The service registered high ridership totals in the first few weeks of the semester and hit its peak on Halloween evening. This weekend will mark the fifth week of service to Chapel Hill, with shuttles running from 7 p.m to 3 a.m. both Friday and Saturday evenings.
For the weekend of Oct. 3, 151 students took the bus to Chapel Hill; 450 students rode the bus to Franklin Street on Halloween night. But the number of riders dropped to 32 on the weekend of Nov. 7, and 49 students used the service last weekend.
Despite the declining numbers, DSG officials said the average price of taking students to and from Chapel Hill-$11.24-is reasonable. Nevertheless, Marrero said, if the Chapel Hill service does not produce a larger ridership in the future, he'll stop it.
"I'm not afraid to pull it if I see it's unsuccessful," he said. "If Chapel Hill is not a success, we'll try other things."
"Our goal," Mokari added, "has always been to find enough financial support in the community to ensure that these shuttles were a permanent and consistent part of the Duke community that students could rely on."
Mokari, in particular, was cautious about putting too much weight in the ridership figures.
"I do think it is extremely unfair to evaluate this service until the final weeks of the shuttle have been run," Mokari said. "We do not have final cost estimates, numbers of ridership and enough student feedback, so we will not be making any decisions on the future of this program until those are complete."
In addition, he noted, the comment cards students fill out after using the service "help us to gain feedback on the Chapel Hill shuttles and to gather suggestions for improving our service." For example, a Class of 1998 student wrote on her comment card: "I think this is a really good idea. This rocks my world and is great for girls' night out."
Weekly fluctuations aside, the demonstrated ability of the shuttles to attract students has emboldened DSG officials to go ahead with their Brightleaf Square plans this week. They are currently working with merchants in the area to secure funding for service.
"As the merchants realize, this is the first step in making Durham a college town," Mokari said. "Especially as Christian Laettner's enterprise takes off near Brightleaf, we need to make a conscious effort in collaboration with the city to turn that area into Durham's version of Franklin Street."
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