The Daily Pennsylvanian
Penn Transit Services Supervisor Fran McCloskey spent his entire evening looking for passengers who needed a ride, but no one came aboard.
McCloskey was driving around University City for the fifth time at 8:20 p.m. in a Penn Transit Services van dubbed the "Campus Loop," a pilot transportation initiative implemented yesterday evening.
The problem was, there were no passengers.
"The van can only hold 14 people besides the driver," he said while sitting in the passenger's seat with a notebook.
The Campus Loop service operates from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. all week, except when the University is closed. The route begins at the northeast corner of 34th and Walnut streets and continues westward until 44th and Walnut streets before looping back eastward on Spruce Street and returning to its starting point.
According to Associate Vice President of Business Services Marie Witt, the initiative arose out of safety concerns and student feedback that indicated that the Penn shuttle services weren't an adequate means of transportation within campus.
"We're hoping that students who aren't as inclined to make that initial phone call will at least know the loop is running and will go on the sidewalk and hop on," she said.
Each loop takes about 20 minutes. A valid PennCard is needed to take advantage of the service. Currently, only one van is used as part of the initiative.
Penn Shuttle Services operates mostly on an on-call basis while PennBus services travel along a fixed route and schedule.
According to a statement by Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush, the service was "being offered as part of a larger effort to curb the current uptick in crime."
As the service is still in its pilot stages, University spokeswoman Rhea Lewis said it will be evaluated for usage and effectiveness. One way to measure this is by counting the number of riders at different times to calculate peak hours of ridership.
"You're looking at popularity, usage, low/peak times, is it something that people even find valuable?" she asked.
But, according to McCloskey, there are still elements that can be worked out to make the system more convenient for riders.
He pointed out that stopping at the blinking lights just before David Rittenhouse Laboratory, instead of directly in front of the classrooms or the transit stop at the corner of 33rd and Walnut streets, didn't make any sense.
Since there were no riders aboard the van during his five loops around the University, he was able to make his way around in exactly 20 minutes. But he said there might be delays in the timing due to traffic and frequent stops.
"We're learning too," he said.
Wharton senior Alexis Nguyen said she would probably not use the transit service unless she saw the van drive by while she was waiting for a bus.
"The schedule is weird. I would actually prefer to have a real schedule, just because being told every 15 to 20 minutes is difficult," she said.
