Starting in the fall, DOTS will provide extra airport shuttles in the days leading up to Thanksgiving break for students who fly home.
The Residence Hall Association voted Tuesday in favor of expanding of shuttle services to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport during the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving break.
The authors of the resolution, Transportation Advisory Committee Chairman Steven Chen and Resident Facilities Advisory Board Chairman Logan Grenley, told RHA Senate members that students who fly out of BWI have to pay between $30 and $60 for a shuttle to the airport or have to take multiple modes of transportation to get there.
“It’s an inefficient way of getting to the airport and just a hassle,” Grenley said.
Grenley said he researched other Big Ten schools and found that nine campuses offer free shuttle services for students during break weeks. He said he felt it was important to make it easier for this university’s large population of out-of-state and international students to travel home.
The new program will offer three extra shuttles leaving from Cole Field House at 6 p.m. Monday and at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday leading up to Thanksgiving break.
Other senate members also questioned whether it would be possible to expand services to Dulles Airport as well and whether such services could be offered for other breaks as well, but Chen and Grenley said that the plan was to start small and see if the shuttles are successful in the fall before considering any larger steps.
“We are trying to get the easiest thing done first,” Grenley said. “[DOTS] thought that Thanksgiving was the easiest way to do it.”
Chen said if the program is successful, DOTS would be willing to consider further expansion.
At this university, 6,425 people — or 24.1 percent of the undergraduate population — are from out of state or international, according to the RHA resolution.
“On-campus students have expressed the need for more flexibility in attaining transportation to BWI before residence halls close for Thanksgiving break,” the resolution read.
RHA members expressed concerns about the costs of such an expansion. But Chen told the members that Department of Transportation Services Director David Allen said extra bussing would not result in student fee increases.
The RHA also amended the resolution to recommend that if any additional funding is required, it should be raised by charging students who actually use the service.
Many out-of-state senators voiced their approval for the idea and agreed it was difficult to get home for Thanksgiving break and that this resolution was a “step in the right direction.”
“Maybe I’m biased because I fly, but it’s a pain in the butt,” said Alex Stoller, chairwoman of the Resident Life Advisory Team. “And if our university can make it any easier for our students to get home, it would be really great. I strongly support this.”
