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Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

Better transit needed for UC Merced

There is a dire need for more frequent transportation between UC Merced and the city. I believe the future of both the campus and the economic development of Merced depend on it.

Let me begin by acknowledging that the CatTracks and the city bus system have greatly improved their schedules in the last four years. However, the current improved state of affairs is still failing.

I organized an extra credit event downtown this Saturday. Today, I learned that a number of students decided not to participate because it was too much of a hassle getting downtown.

My event started between 6 and 7 p.m. A CatTracks leaves campus at 5 p.m. and gets to Main Street an hour later. The next bus leaves at 6:30 p.m.

Granted, it's a poor excuse to miss extra credit, but other students could not participate because they had extracurricular commitments on campus until 5 p.m. Given the hassle of getting downtown, I mentioned that the dorms must be bustling on the weekend. No, I learned, they are empty because a large number of students go home.

The need for buses has only increased in the last four years as parking on campus has dwindled. Three years ago, a selling point of UC Merced was on-campus parking. That has evaporated. I personally don't think college students need a car -- that is they shouldn't, unless their campus is in the middle of a cow pasture.

The decision to place the campus six miles from town and four miles from the nearest commercial area boggles my mind. But the campus is there now.

Better transportation between town and the campus will do more to develop both in the next 10 years than any high-speed rail or campus parkway. (Both of which will only increase the ability of students to flee town more conveniently.)

On evenings, a student should be able to get on a bus at campus and get off a bus on Main Street or the Olive Avenue commercial district in 15 minutes. And buses should leave to both every half hour.

Additionally, there should be transportation once an hour during the day between campus and downtown.

Why is it that the landlords of Bellevue Ranch, The Village Apartments, Moraga, Granville Apartments and the Swiss Colony get bus transport between their properties and campus, while those who own rentals in other parts of town get no service?

The expense of this service and its organization needs to be shared by the campus and the city. The city should participation not because they should "cater" to UC students, but because of the money that is currently leaving town.

Better transportation could easily keep 1,000 students in town. At $10 a night that is $70,000 per week in lost revenue for Merced. The university, meanwhile, needs to shore up its selling points. On campus parking is gone. The "pioneer" selling point is largely gone. Soon the small intimate class sizes will be gone. Trying to attract students to an isolated campus will become growingly difficult unless something is done.

Todd C. Neumann is assistant professor of economics at UC Merced.