Geneseo Parking and Transportation Services and the Livingston Area Transportation Service made several improvements in the campus transportation system during the fall 2012 semester.
According to Joe Van Remmen, assistant to the chief of parking and transportation, Parking and Transportation Services and LATS installed a number of electronic signs around the campus and local stores to display bus schedules.
The signs tie into the LATS “Where’s My Bus?” program, a mobile phone service that provides estimated bus arrival times in real time. When the four-digit ID number of a particular sign is sent to the service, users will receive a text with the next three bus arrival times. This service became operational in August 2012.
“No matter where you are, you can put that four-digit number in [your phone] and know when [the bus] is going to be at the stop,” Van Remmen said. “It tells you when it’s is actually going to be there, not when it’s scheduled to be there, which is big.”
A Saturday bus route to Letchworth State Park and Mount Morris was also introduced in fall 2012, running from September into October. Due to lack of ridership, this service will not be operational throughout spring 2013.
“I think we’d just like to get it running [again] in the fall and see how that does before pushing it to the spring,” Van Remmen said.
A major point of interest for Parking and Transportation Services lies in the renovation of Doty Hall. According to Van Remmen, once the building is opened, it is likely that staff will park their cars in that area rather than the parking circle and current faculty lots.
“I expect there to be some migrations of where people park,” Van Remmen said.
According to Van Remmen, these changes may open up parking spaces closer to the campus. Although there are no official plans to open these spaces to students, he said that Parking and Transportation Services acknowledges students’ discontent with the lack of student parking in the academic area, and is working to find a solution.
Parking and Transportation Services will discuss a number of possible changes in parking and bus services for the upcoming semester at a forum on March 4. This forum will be open to Geneseo students and staff, and attendees will be encouraged to share their opinions on current parking and transportation systems on campus.
“I would love to hear suggestions at the forum that people might have for parking in the academic area,” Van Remmen said. “I know students aren’t happy about the way the parking is … nothing is concrete that there will be any changes, but if there is support for some changes, I would be glad to bring that to our committee and our college administration.”