Fairbanks borough, UAF eye free bus rides
Originally published Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 1:00 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 12:17 a.m.
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FAIRBANKS — University students, professors, employees and teachers could start riding the bus for free this fall.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough and the University of Alaska Fairbanks are eyeing a deal where anyone with a school ID card could hop on any public bus line for free, anywhere, anytime.
Brian Rogers, the university’s interim chancellor, said rising gasoline costs, coupled with parking fees, can leave some students and staff paying up to $10 a day to commute and park.
“Absent this,” Rogers said of the proposed pilot program, “there’s a real barrier to students, an economic barrier, and all of us are facing it.” The rising cost of commuting to school and work hinders the school’s mission of promoting academic excellence and lifelong learning in Alaska, he said.
Four of the borough’s six fixed-route bus lines — Yellow, Blue, Red and Gray — make regular stops at the university’s main campus, and the downtown transit center sits a couple of blocks away from the school’s Tanana Valley Campus.
It would hit a slice of the community that already uses the bus often — about one in six of all 292,000 bus rides start or end at the university’s Wood Center student activity building, said Glenn Miller, who directs the Transportation Department for the borough. But there could be room for growth, as only seven riders disembarked from a combined four bus stops at the Wood Center between 9:15 and 9:45 Tuesday morning.
Twenty-one-year-old chemistry student Kyung Kim said she’d heard something last week from a friend about the prospect of free rides.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Kim, an incoming sophomore who has used monthly bus passes to commute between North Pole and UAF all summer. A native of Korea who has attended high school and college in Fairbanks for four years, she said free rides would make her think seriously about commuting year-round. She said the bus system in her hometown is far more convenient than here, but added that in many ways, using the Fairbanks routes still beats driving.
“If the bus system was more convenient, I might take the bus to come here every day” all year, she said outside the Wood Center on Tuesday.
Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker is set to formally pitch what would amount to a pilot project this week.
For the first year or two, the university would pay the borough a fraction of the prospective contract’s price tag to compensate for lost fares, Miller said. After that, if the pilot project is successful, the two sides can strike a longer-term deal that would leave the university on the hook to pay roughly $200,000 or more each year.
The Borough Assembly could approve the trial run as early as July 24. That would put the free-rides program in place weeks in advance of the fall semester.
Part-time students would also be eligible for the proposed program, as would anyone with an active school identification card.
Whitaker said the proposal also carries the potential of increasing overall ridership numbers, which he said could mean more federal funding for the bus system.
“Overall, it’s a significant winner for both the borough and the university,” he said.
Many large cities, including Anchorage, strike transit deals with big employers. Rogers said the idea has been floating around Fairbanks for a few years.
This summer, he said, Whitaker’s chief of staff revived the idea during meetings with Rogers’ administrative services transition team.
The group realized the plan could help lower student costs, make life on campus a little more “sustainable,” make it easier to park and get people in the habit of using public transit.
“Based on that, the mayor put together a proposal (for) us and I said, ‘Yes, we’re prepared to pay a portion on a trial basis.’ And off it went,” Rogers said.
Miller said more bus riders would also reduce air pollution by cutting the number of cars on the road, including a type of pollution consisting of tiny bits of airborne dust, chronic in Fairbanks.
“Reducing the total (vehicle miles traveled) will not only help us in our current struggles” with particulate pollution, Miller wrote in an e-mail, “but with other pollutants such as carbon monoxide and other gases that seem to be front page news around the country today.”
The school would pay the borough almost $20,000 under the first year of the pilot program.
Anchorage has used a similar deal to offer free bus rides to university students and staff for a decade, according to Jody Karcz, the city’s transit director. The number of riders who flashed their university ID for a free ride more than doubled during the U-Pass program’s first couple of semesters, from 359 riders per day to 850, she said. Since then, the city has struck similar ridership deals with a few other big employers including ConocoPhillips.
Karcz said she thinks frequent riders appreciate the added option of taking the bus for free to and from work, particularly in light of the rising cost of gasoline.
She suspects rising fuel costs have led to increased ridership in Anchorage, which has risen by about 10 percent in recent months.
“When you get rid of the fare, you make ridership a lot easier,” she said.
Rogers said organizers would define a long-term free-rider program based on how well it works during the trial course.
“We really appreciate that the mayor came up with this program and hope the trial shows that it does make a difference and reaches all of our objectives,” he said.
Community Discussion
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Interesting.
I may be able to ride the bus for free just by using my old Polar Express card... granted I only went two years back...
Instead of free rides just put in a bus line on Goldstream Road that ran in the morning and late afternoon. I'd rather pay to ride the bus than drive my car and pay for parking on campus.
Flawed plan, flawed idea...
I'm assuming that I (a UAF alumn) who graduated years ago, could enroll in a throw-away 1 credit class in Underwater Basket Weaving, ... never show up, but have a student ID and ride the bus for free, ... cost: $85-$115.
Wait a minute, great plan! Great idea! Hurry up and approve it before this subterfuge is revealed!
I see the sheeple still believe in "free".
My respect for my fellow citizens continues to wane.
A month pass is only $36. I doubt anyone would spend $85-$115 on a class, just to ride for "free". They really wouldn't be saving that much.
But for students who are actually going to the University every day, riding the bus and saving the money they would be spending on gas and parking is a big difference. Knocking the cost down from the current $50 semester long bus pass a down to nothing should motivate more students to actually ride the bus.
arm what is it costing the University? I mean state. Honestly bus service in Fairbanks is not effecient enough to be viable for commuters. Then add the cold and late buses that make it a hassle. Enough of one that I suck it up and pay to drive to work even when it was free in past years after trying to ride it for 2 months. No thanks
Sounds like a good idea to me (although as Gonzalez pointed out in a lame way, it won't actually be free but will come from increased student fees somewhere). Hopefully many more students would use the bus service which means fewer cars on the roads and thus fewer accidents and less demand for gas (lower marginal relative prices).
Something like it for low ranking soldiers and their families might be a good idea as well, paid with federal dollars of course.
Military and dependents already get 1/2 price month passes.
I just bought my first car last summer, before that I've been a city bus rider for my twenty years in town (all of my years alive) so I think this would be a really good idea.
It is true that the bus is sometimes late in the winter, but the schedule over the past two years has gotten huge overhaul and re-vamping. Buses used to stop around 6pm on weekdays for most of the time I was using the bus, but currently they run until 9:30pm. Still not great, but very manageable on a school or work schedule. They've also added new buses and new routes making it a better system than ever before.
While I'm going to begin using the bus again due to high gas prices, I don't agree all UAF students should have to pay more fees. I don't know how they plan on making this deal, but I do think it's something positive.
Are they going to use tax dollars to make up loss revenues? If so why just this group of " elite" individuals, should be for everyone.
...maybe because UAF tuition is ridiculously expensive. Well, cheaper than other out-of-state options, but trying to go to school on top of paying the bills and eating is very tricky.
It won't pass, UAF will lose too much money in parking tickets. They don't care about the students, from top to bottom that "university" only cares about the money it can take from anyone who happens upon their land.
Nothing quite like getting followed by a CSO until I stop to drop off a friend, only to be blocked in and ticketed. Takes them about 30 seconds to print off a $50 parking ticket.
I agree with Pavel, UAF really knows how to milk money. I tried contesting tickets that didn't even make sense, but it just ended up with me being broke $90 later.
I thought the State had a plan where if you ranked high enough in your class standing in an Alaskan high school, you got to go to UAF or UAA free?
If you're in the top 10% you get up to around $2,000 a semester. If you're not from Anchorage and Fairbanks, you've also got somewhere around $6,000 tacked on for a dorm and meal plan if you're on campus.
I guess if you get loans and other funds it's an alright deal, but like most systems there are ways to cheat.
I know a guy who got one of those UA Scholar awards. You know how? He took all electives, gym classes, and easy cores. He doesn't even go to college as far as I know.
I took a lot of AP and honors courses, fell in the top 11%, and received nothing.
...lots of university bashers out there. As I have said consistently...give Brian Rogers a chance to fail before condemning the system. In a short time he is already trying to make positive moves by LISTENING to people. Move out of the past and give our new chancellor an opportunity to show you why Mark Hamilton selected him.
Raising more revenue through fares in order to expand the system to serve more people makes more sense than making the already cheap ride cheaper.
I grew up in a place where taking public transportation didn't mean having to freeze my a--s off. For too many years, I was a student at UAF who relied on public transportation via bus to get me to and from school, from work. Waiting for a bus at 30, 40 below became a fine art in time management. If I was off by 5-30 seconds, at best, I had to wait another half hour for the next ride. At worst, I just coughed up the money for cab fare.
After paying for enough cab rides that would have totally covered any costs of owning a vehicle, I decided it was cheaper to own a vehicle outright, and get where I wanted to be in the timeframe I needed to be there by relying on a vehicle I owned rather than bus service I wasn't always disciplined enough to get there on time for or be willing to have my body core temperature drop down to a dangerous level.
I was once a student. And as such, I know that being one requires a hell of a lot of short-term sacrifice for the long-term good. Not only for my own good, but for that of the community.
Anything we can do to make it a little easier on college students to get the education we'd all benefit from is a good investment, in my eyes.
The simplest solution would be to provide heated and well-lit bus shelters so that missing a bus by 30 seconds at 40 below wouldn't be such a big deal. But honestly, providing a heated network of bus shelters would eventually only exacerbate this city's problems with chronic inebriates - each and every bus shelter would likely become the semi-permanent lodgings of some homeless drunkard who would rather stay warm throughout the night than freeze to death. And rightfully so, from their point of view.
A slightly more complex solution would be to put each bus on some kind of gps tracking system. This would have worked superbly for me when I relied solely on the bus system. I would have been able to just click on some link on the internet, and known instantly if I had the 1.5 minutes to make it to the bus stop in time for the bus, or whether I should just stay inside, and outside the 40 below temps, drink another cup of coffee, and wait for the next bus 30 minutes later.
The buses usually arrived on time. But sometimes, early. And sometimes, late. On any given day, it was a crapshot as to whether I'd make my bus if I wasn't outright early by a few minutes. At 40 below, a few minutes can seem like hours.
I hope the Borough Assembly will approve the rider-free program for those affiliated with UAF. They should just know that this program will really be made effective by any measures they can take to prevent folks from literally having to wait out in the cold.
Monthly passes are available as well as tokens and I hope students and employees have used these in the past. And students have to be within a reasonable distance of a bus route for the -20 to -50 winter wait for the houly runs.
I think this is a plan to frustrate students (waiting for a bus or missing the stop time) and have them resort to driving to make an exam and in return get hit with a UAF parking ticket.
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would love to even pay the price to ride the bus. However the bus routes only run once an hour or more to anywhere, and it generally takes me more than two to travel three or four miles, and a more than reasonable price because I have to take connecting busses and wait and wait. I would rather ride but its more cost effective to hop in my car use 1/2 gallon of gas and make it to work in 5 minutes than take an hour and 4 dollars to take two busses. maybe charge a little more give us transfers and run a little more than once an hour. I think a lot more people would ride and the transit system would make a LOT more money because more people would ride if the wait was less and they didn't have to pay every time they got on a different bus. It works pretty well for every other mass transit system why can't it work here.
Good grief - we haven't even been given the details of the proposal yet and many people here are saying that this is just another idea to raise parking ticket revenue and milk the taxpayers for all their worth. I'd like to see a few more details before I decide to take a giant dump all over it.
Although I'd like to hear about what the new chancellor plans to do for academic programs and buildings at the U, this has been a good start. Consider that UAA has had bus benefits for students, staff, and faculty for years now. I've wanted a similar program at UAF since I first came to Fairbanks. I agree that the bus system has problems, but most of those are related more to weather and the size of the city. I imagine that FNSB Transportation is between a rock and a hard place. They need more riders to justify more buses and they need more buses to get more riders!
@Isanova, Non_Lemming: It is not surprising that people will try and game the system right away. Perhaps the U could have a bus pass sticker for current U members to place on their card each term?
@LadyNYC: Those are good suggestions, especially the possibility of checking a bus' location online in real time. I've wished for that capability many times myself.
A month or two ago, the Borough did away with monthly passes for Van Tran, which serves the disabled and seniors. The reason they gave was that they couldn't afford it. It doesn't seem fair that the least able to pay - disabled and seniors - are now paying more while able-bodied students can ride for free.
This is a big rip off for the tax payers. I have no problem with it being free for students or retired people but stop it there. The professors, employees and teachers are government employees. They already make more money than the average wage earner in Fairbanks plus all kinds of benefits. So now they want us $25,000 a year with no benefits to pay for them to ride for free. I pay $3,500 a year property taxes but I am not one of the priviliged elite who makes $50,000 to $150,000 plus benifits and many only work 9 months out of the year. The worst thing about all of this is that it is one of the boroughs better ideas. Most of them are so bad that you just can't help but laugh while shaking your head wondering how out of touch with the real world the people coming up with these ideas are. Lets let Mayor Whitaker make the decision all by himself. I am sure he can figure out a way to do so under his emergency spending do not put it out to the low bidder approach. I have $10 for anyone who can get me a picture of Guy Sattleys face when he read about this. Please Mr. Rogers tell me this idea came from F.E.D.C.O. or the Mayor then I can at least understand the total lack of concern for the average tax payer. I repeat that I have no problem helping the poor, the handicapped, the elderly, or students. If you would watch it I would be happy to give you a copy of Robin Hood so you could see how it should be done. It is not steal from the poor and give to the rich in case you might be confused on how it should work. Pay no attention to how the mayor does it he obviously has never seen Robin Hood either. If you will watch it with him I will even buy the pop corn.
Scott Leslie
Outtatownner, shove it up your own a-hole, willya? I *know* that I'm living on the last frontier this earth has to offer. And having absolutely relied upon the public transportation system here for over a few years, I am well-qualified to remark upon ways that it could improve. Doing so is not whining. Doing so is making constructive suggestions for improvement.
You've *obviously* never experienced for yourself what it means to have your own ***nipples*** get frostbitten while waiting for a bus. Frostbite, under layers and layers of temperature-appropriate wool clothing.
So shut the heck up, ok?
Some of us who are actually suggesting improvements on the existing system are some of us who have actually experienced the conditions we are trying to remedy by suggesting these improvements.
Outtatownner, I can't even figure out the reasons for your belly-aching, but please do get over your own damned self. If you can't figure out the bases for my complaints, then you've never really had to rely on the bus system here. Which would completely invalidate any of your muck-racking commentary. Stay out of this discussion. You clearly don't have a place here.
I see they have updated the story since my first post. I knew this had to come from the Mayor or one of his flunkies. Must be hard for some of them to get that brown stain off their noses every night when they get home. You can't blame Rogers for taking advantage of this offer. What is it going to cost us the tax payers for it this year. How much is grant or federal money. They say $20,000 this year and $200,000 next year. Yes if someone offered to haul me and my friends, employees, etc. around for 10% of the actual cost I would jump right on it. Let's see the Mayors job will be done one day, the Port Authority thing did not work out for him, coal gasification might go bust for him but maybe he might be able to swing a job at the UAF since his buddy at F.E.D.C.O. won't want to let him in on the cream he is licking up. We need term limits. One term on then you have to take one off so more people can get their share of the cream or at least spread it out to their friends.
hello glenn miller you said that you have not enought money to start any new bus lines or not enought busses to start any new routes out in north pole like down hurst road or nelson road plake road this area has enought traffic but you help give the town away but what about north pole haveing some new routes thats lots u.v people out here i am sure you would"NT want to leave them out spud
well... not free. nothing is free. they just mean that someone else besides the riders pay which may or may not be a good idea.
I think it is a wonderful idea. They should have one day each week where it is free for everyone to ride.
A1shiva, trust me, there are PLENTY of lower-paying jobs at the U. The professors may make $50,000 & work 9 mos, but the average staff member is making WAY less & working 12mos to do it. My friends who work there are barely getting by, just like a lot of Fairbanks.
The truth is, bus systems do not make money. The fare is at minimum a chance to offset a small ammount of thier operating expenses.
I ride the bus. I remember when they gave free rides during winter, and how the inebriates tried to sleep in the buses. I support our bus system and am honestly amazed they can keep running in this winter weather.
I know how tight our city budget is, and I know some residents are still trying to lower taxes, which is understandable from thier POV. I would really like to see the bus system expand and increase funding, but I dont see it as likely.
- A few more buses (or recomission/refurbish the old buses in storage) would let us see our busstops get serviced every half-hour with regularity.
- Wooden bus stops (like you see at the library) and maybe a few larger enclosed areas on multi-bus junctures (like the one at UAF) would help a lot, and they dont need be heated.
- Hire a few more drivers and keep the routes going until 10:30 PM. As a someday-to-be student living downtown and working during the day it is very hard for me to try to goto classes when I have to either catch the last bus at 8:30 or pay $25 in cab fare. I also used to work nights and I know having the bus stop so soon (5pm-9pm) makes it hard or impossible for graveyard shifts to even consider public transport.
Like I said I doubt the city will be able to do anything and they do have more urgent needs, but... HELP!
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