The Great Transportation Debate
by TheBetterOtto on Feb 16, 2012 12:05 PM EST
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PrintFor those of you who remember the glory days of buses, here's what's happened since (as explained to me by the bureaucracy).
Back in the day Georgetown bused students all the way to MD to watch some hoops. Then when we started playing at the Verizon Center and students would take the buses downtown, only to go out drinking and not go to games. A minor problem, since it still managed to get people in the seats. Then there was a trend of waaaay more students wanting the buses home than took them there (and everyone leaves at once), so instead students were leaving when there was still 5 min left in the game. Add to these issues general rowdy and debaucherous students pissing off bus drivers and it was enough to question their effectiveness. That's when students got really aggressive and wanted to be let out on M Street, or other places, and when the bus drivers told them that they didn't stop there they started opening the back doors of the school buses and it became a liability issue that the bus company no longer wanted to deal with. So the AD switched to giving out metro cards. But the same problem of students using the cards to go somewhere else than the game pervaded and they decided to scrap it all together.
In addition, traffic in DC at rush hour for the weeknight games is awful. There are also, apparently, laws in DC that require buses to have permits to travel certain paths through the city at certain times (for those of you who wonder why sometimes the DuPont GUTS bus goes up by the Naval Observatory and sometimes goes down Q, this is why).
With all of this debate the issue has been brought up again by the AD, but short of having a staff member physically handing out the metro cards at every game on each bus to Rosslyn (and then what do you do about students who choose to get there by alternative method?) the idea of metro cards doesn't really hold appeal. Handing out a bunch with the ticket package doesn't make sense because then students will grab one whenever they need the metro, and then when they don't have a metro card for the USF game they'll say, "Oh well!"
I'm not saying its a lost cause, but it's going to take a LOT of convincing to get the AD to move back to the bus system. I think someone would have to come up with a comprehensive pitch solving the permit and logistics problems of navigating downtown and making sure students don't leave early. Metro cards may be more doable with some creativity for making sure those students actually come.
Stay Casual, my friends.
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interesting
sad that people took advantage of the system. i think student should pay extra for the buses. $50 on top of their season tickets (and cut season ticket prices by $50). less likely to take advantage of a system you paid upfront for and can lose access to for poor behavior.
Good talk.
this makes a lot of sense
since ‘cost’ doesn’t appear to be as much of an issue re lack of student attendance as compared to ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘convenient transportation to verizon’, this would help 1) provide for the buses and 2) make sure the morons taking advantage of the system would get penalized.
Casually.
it still doesnt solve the DC logistics problem
but i imagine that students will be divided between how to get there.
die hards who lineup hours before the game will take metro
drunks who wake up 30 minutes before game will take cabs
others will take bus
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 16, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions
How about
Buses to the game and hand out metro cards to anyone who gets off to come back.
Use foursquare or some other app to track student attendance. Give free tickets and transportation to freshman and people who checked in to 75% of games incl at least 3 OOC games in the previous year. Or if you attended the previous game, you get a free ticket and transpo to the next. Or any other idea that works
I believe this solves the parking and leaving early issues. Maybe it incentives people to become regulars.
by WeWantNerlens on Feb 16, 2012 1:38 PM EST up reply actions
there might be a compromise position
that could win back the trust of the school, and address our weakest student showings without causing logistical nightmares.
Even this season, our conference weeknight games have (I think) been pretty well attended. After a day of class/work, the students are already dressed, out of their dorms, (hopefully) no longer hungover, and able to work out how to get downtown (also Metro/buses/GUTS, etc. are all more frequent during the week.)
But on a Saturday morning, hangovers/general disinclination to get out of bed are an issue, and even if you get yourself to Rosslyn or Dupont, Metro weekend schedules can be erratic. So offer one-way Saturday/Sunday buses. Traffic should be less of an issue at 10 or 11am on the weekend (and if it is a madhouse around VC, then drop them off further afield – outside the Building Museum or Convention Center or something). And let them make their own way back – maybe give out Metro cards, possibly covered by a “transport fee” component of the season tickets (as suggested above by Hire.)
This year, that would have meant buses for 4 BE games (while school was in session), and 3 or 4 OOC. Assuming the schedule is similar next year, perhaps it is worth an experiment? There would be no issues with M St “bus jumpers”, or people just riding the buses to go party downtown (surely not on a Saturday morning), and manageable traffic/logistics (vs trying to unload at rush hour and park 10 buses someplace). They could also run loops, if that would cut costs (say 4 or 5 doing 2 trips each.)
Hammer of the Cuse
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