It is hard to believe that for such a small campus, we would need such luxuries as shuttles to take us from class to class. Generally, it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk from one end of the Boca campus to another. However, Dennis Crudele, interim police chief, says he wants shuttles on campus… fast.

“We’re hoping to begin the shuttle system as early as this fall,” Crudele says. “It could help ease the heavy traffic on campus.”

Potentially starting this fall, FAU could welcome three shuttles to the Boca campus to schlep us around (because that idea is so much better than just walking). According to Crudele, the money to fund these shuttles will come out of the transportation access fee students pay each semester. The $50 already goes towards the funding of parking garages, parking lots, bike racks, walkways and the maintenance of anything and everything related to all modes of transportation on campus.

Maybe I stand alone on this, but I am fully aware of the laziness on our campus. There is a lot more available parking than students seem to believe. Unfortunately, spots may not be as close to class as you’d like, but they’re still there. You probably don’t know that because you are on Volusia street driving up and down the parking garage, convincing yourself that any minute now, someone will come up to you and say, “Hey, I’m going out.” But really, that rarely happens. It will take longer to find an empty spot in a packed parking garage than a needle in a haystack.

Crudele says that shuttle service is something FAU has done a couple of times in the past, but hasn’t quite caught on. He hopes that this time, students will find it beneficial.

My question is this: If it hasn’t worked in the past, what is going to convince Crudele and company that it will work now?

“We’ve tried it two or three times,” Crudele says. “We had shuttles, but people just never used them.”

For some schools, like the University of Florida, the shuttle system has worked.

Ron Fuller, assistant director for transportation and parking for the UF, says that shuttles have been schleping students around for over 10 years… and with good reason.

UF’s campus is well over double the size of FAU’s. Even at 2000 acres (FAU is at 850), Fuller says there still isn’t enough parking. It is required that all undergraduate students who are off-campus residents park around the perimeter of the school. So, Fuller says, shuttles were essential since there wasn’t enough parking for everyone on campus. Unless students want to walk a mile from their car to class, they’ll willingly wait for the shuttle.

One downside, Fuller says, is that it costs students more in transportation fees to have the buses on campus.

“It’s a little over $5 per credit hour for students,” Fuller says. So if a student is taking 12 credits, it will cost them over $60 alone in transportation fees.

Fuller also says that the shuttles aren’t run by the school.

“The shuttles aren’t university owned and operated,” he says. “The Regional Transit Service [the city’s transportation system] is in charge of all the shuttle stops and locations.” This past spring semester, shuttle service began at 7 a.m. and went through until 10 p.m.

Lucky for them, they have six buses that pick up and drop off as fast as every seven to 10 minutes in several locations throughout campus.

With only three buses for us, it is hard to imagine that FAU can do the same. Since most of us students do not really plan ahead for many things, one of them being on time for classes, it is hard for me to picture students who are running late for their classes standing at a bus stop waiting to be picked up.

Crudele says he knows that the system may not work, but he thinks it’s worth a try.

Thanks Crudele. At least there is someone actually looking out for the best interest of the students at the university… unlike some other people that hold high-ranking administrative positions. But let’s save that one for another time.