Transit scale backs leave some concerned

Those without cab fare or Septa tokens may have to lace up their tennis shoes and start walking this fall.

Due to a decline in ridership, Penn Transit -- the free University bus and van service that also ventures to Center City -- has scaled back on hours and routes.

"It was an attempt to be more responsive to student demands... and to focus the resources on where they are needed," said Penn Current Managing Editor Sandy Smith, who served on the advisory committee that is overseeing the Penn Transit changes.

Yet controversy over student needs has already arisen under the pilot changes. Medical students have approached Business Services -- which oversees Penn Transit -- arguing that new route hours to Center City end before their classes and rotations have finished for the night.

"They have to be on campus at certain times," Business Services spokeswoman Rhea Lewis said.

"We haven't hammered down the details yet of possible changes," she added, noting that an adjustment is expected as early as tomorrow.

Announced in July, the original pilot changes include ending transit routes at 1 a.m. rather than 3 a.m., and scaling back Center City services. Students will still be able to call 898-RIDE for dispatch shuttle rides until 3 a.m.

"Of course we've got a couple of people that are inconvenienced by it," Transportation Manager Ron Ward said. He added, however, that overall he thinks the changes are "so far, so good."

Not all changes involve cutbacks. Six new buses were added to the Penn Transit fleet and three new stops -- at 38th and Locust streets, 40th and Walnut streets and 39th and Spruce streets -- are being piloted along the Penn Bus East route.

So far, responses among Penn Transit users are varied.

Praising the addition of new buses, Ronald Day, the head of references services in the Law Library, said the changes were convenient for Penn Bus users.

"We like the fact that... if we're staying late at work, we don't have to watch the clock so closely," Day said, noting that with more buses on route, services come more frequently.

But others, including May Landis, a graduate student in the School of Education, said the cutbacks in services were not necessarily made in the right places.

"I think stopping at 1 [a.m.] isn't so smart," Landis said, adding that later hours had provided students both safety and convenience.

Yet officials noted that community needs are shifting, prodding the service changes.

"Late at night, the primary emphasis is safety over convenience," Smith said.

And perhaps owing in part to increased safety around campus, ridership on Penn Transit services has fallen from an all-time high of 432,005 riders in fiscal year 1997 to only 348,600 riders in fiscal year 2003.

Hoping to benefit those who use Penn Transit, Ward said that an advisory committee will reconvene next month to review feedback and riding statistics.

"We're flexible," he added, saying programs might be revised in light of rider responses.

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