Story By: Abbey Resler
Photos By: Justin Janorschke
In an initiative to give students transportation alternatives, the Student Government Association has partnered with St. Joseph Transit to provide free bus rides to students, faculty and staff. SGA and St. Joseph Transit set a maximum ridership goal of 9,500 Missouri Western students for the year. If this number is met, MWSU will be locked into contract for the next two years. This first year was a trial and neither students nor the school were charged.
The idea for free bus rides first came about last spring. The previous SGA administration hoped to find a way to provide free transit to students in St. Joseph. The first idea was to incorporate taxi cabs. After having no luck partnering with any of the taxi companies in St. Joseph, they broadened their horizon. Over the summer, SGA President Ida Haefner and Executive Vice President Brad Stanton met with St. Joseph Transit to iron out the three-year contract.
The bus rides will be completely paid for by the SGA. By cutting back on college readership expenses, they were able to pay for free transit and have additional funding leftover. The remaining funds will be given to the director of finance to extend to student organizations who wish to host events on campus or attend conferences. The college readership budget was previously $30,000 for one year. After reevaluating the budget, they decided to subscribe through St. Joseph News Press and now pay $9,500.
Stanton has been impressed by the results of the free transit system. “They said a ridership goal of 9500,” he said. “For the whole year they wanted 9500 riders to lock us into next year, and at semester we had over 7000.”
The program has greatly helped MWSU students. Haefner believes that many people are really enjoying the free bus rides. “The people that live in St. Joe can swap maybe two buses and get to campus,” she said. “They don’t have to pay for gas, they don’t have to pay for anything. Before, it was a $40 fee for a month of riding the bus and now they don’t have to pay for that.” The free transit system helps a lot of people, and nontraditional students especially enjoy being able to hop on the bus and get to school while also saving money. The bus picks up every thirty minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The free bus rides may still need some media attention for students who are unaware of what SGA is paying for. Freshman Chance Chesnut states that he has not used the bus system and was not aware that it was free for MWSU students. However, Chesnut did mention, “If you don’t have a ride, you should definitely use the bus, because it’s free!”
If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback about your experience with the free bus rides, contact Haefner or the SGA office at 816-271-4408.