A number of Boston University students said they would benefit from using the new bus services provided by Student Government for holiday travel to Logan International Airport and South Station.
With the buses announced for the spring 2013 semester at SG’s meeting Monday night, students said they are excited to have another travel option.
“A lot of people I know live far enough that they fly home,” said Travis Smith, a College of Arts and Sciences junior. “It would appeal to a lot of BU students. It would save me a cab fare.”
SG conducted a student survey in November regarding busing options for break. Students were asked whether or not they would be interested in the service and how much they were willing to pay.
About 680 students were surveyed, and 96 percent said they would use a reasonably priced BU bus service to Logan Airport. Forty-nine percent said they primarily fly during breaks.
Smith said a BU bus service would make trips to the airport more convenient than splitting a cab fare.
A number of students said transporting luggage on the T is inconvenient, especially when taking the Green Line.
“The T is a huge hassle because the Green Line is often inaccessible if you are carrying a big bag,” said College of Fine Arts freshman Carley Yanuck. “It would be nice if [the bus] could pick me up in front of my dorm.”
Students weighed the convenience of a cab against the affordability of the T. Hiring a cab could be as expensive as $60, said CAS sophomore Samuel Green.
“The T gets busy, especially when students from other Boston schools are on it,” Green said. “An alternative form of transportation would be great.”
Student Government officials said the logistics of the bus service are still being worked out.
“We do not have any special funding for this project, so it is entirely run on student interest,” said Caitlin Seele, director of the Student Government Advocacy Department, in an email.
The proposed budget for the buses is $775, with $200 devoted to advertising and $575 to the cost of bus rentals, according to statistics provided at the SG meeting. To break even, they need to sell at least 64 seats without advertising, or 86 seats with advertising.
The buses will be scheduled to run before breaks and at the end of each semester. The first trip will be for the 2013 spring break.
SG officials said they are still discussing the points of departure for the buses.
“We are deciding between having them all leave from Marsh [Plaza] or having them stop at individual dorms,” Seele, a School of Management junior, said. “It will obviously take more time to go dorm to dorm so we’re leaning more toward having them all come to Marsh to get the maximum amount of trips to Logan in possible.”
SG will use Academy Bus for the shuttle service. Students will be able to buy tickets ahead of time in the George Sherman Union, but a date has not been set, Seele said.
Neither the schedule nor the price has been determined, but one bus will run to and from the campus for five hours a day, Seele said.
Seele said plans may expand not only to safely take students to the airport but to take them home as well.
“In the future, we may open up routes to other locations like Penn Station in New York, Long Island, Philadelphia or New Jersey,” Seele said. “However, we will start out by only going to Logan to see how it goes.”
Margaret Waterman contributed to the reporting of this article.
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