Sign up to receive Northern Star headlines in your inbox, delivered weekdays at 6 a.m.
Feedback? E-mail us.
 |
How cheap do you think gas prices in DeKalb will get to? |
Extended Huskie Bus route to 'Western View' neglects safety of everyone for convenience of a few
It seems every positive step of the Northern View Community project is followed by a slight misstep.
On the Huskie Bus Line Weekend Campus Circle Left route, the bus passes Stevenson Towers on its way to the just-completed housing for students with dependents.
Riders pass the Convocation Center and become privy to a scenic tour of western DeKalb just to get to Northern View Community. I guess it’s actually more of a western view.
It inconveniences the majority to head to this remote housing, but everyone is entitled to access to public transportation. This route heads all the way to Twombly Road, so reaching another corner of campus makes sense.
What does not make sense is the route’s trip through “Western“ View just so those students can have pick-up at their doorsteps.
Northern View should not get greater privilege to public transportation access just because they have a nice, new facility and NIU’s administrators’ backing.
The route that was timed at approximately 30 minutes now takes closer to 40 because of the multiple stops within the complex. There are not enough students living in that facility who ride the bus to warrant that many stops.
The largest problem is not the time element, though. It’s the safety of the passengers and other drivers that is jeopardized due to the small passages the bus is forced through.
These side streets were not designed to have buses careening through them.
They are not wide enough for a car and a bus to safely pass.
The nightmare scenario will emerge soon when snow falls and the roadway will inevitably shrink even more. An accident seems likely. Even if they manage to avoid a fender-bender, certainly buses will be forced to wait while cars pass.
This will tax an already over-stretched line.
There is a simple solution that should be implemented immediately. There is a turnaround that would be ideal for the buses to use at the entrance to the community.
That stop is located right by the community center, allowing residents to wait inside for buses if necessary. This is a luxury many other stops don’t have.
Students, through the Student Association, should get stops where they need them.
The Huskie bus drivers are taxed enough without suffering through a horribly long route that no one gets on because its trying to over-accommodate too many students.
It’s time to be practical. Shorten the Weekend Campus Circle Left line just enough to let it run on time.
» Next Opinion Article: Journalism degrees hard to come by