NU Link shuttle poll results in

The poll posted on NU Link in late January gathering student feedback about a Saturday downtown Chicago shuttle was released yesterday at the Associated Student Government meeting.

The ASG external relations committee first took interest in creating a weekend downtown shuttle when the Student-Community Relations Taskforce met in the fall and believed there was a connection between excessive alcohol consumption and the lack of entertainment in Evanston. From its meeting with university services, the committee has found the cost per quarter to operate a Saturday shuttle for eight hours (from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a two-hour gap) to cost $6554.80. The committee expects 25 students to use the shuttle on a one-way trip, which would cost make the cost per passenger $3.28. This cost per trip is higher than using the El, and so the committee would like the university to contribute funding so students wouldn't have to pay more to use the proposed shuttle. The committee also wants to run a test pilot program as early as spring.

The following was taken from the report:

ASG is discussing whether or not operating an Intercampus Shuttle to Chicago on Saturdays would be beneficial for students. Currently, students wishing to visit Chicago on weekends must resort to other forms of public transportation, and in January the CTA is prepared to increase train fares for the El up to $3.25 per ride. Your responses to this short poll will help us decide if we should pursue operating an Intercampus on Saturdays.

2481 responses to the poll as of 2008-02-19 10:49.

1. Would you use the intercampus if it were offered on Saturdays?
   Yes - 98.47%
   No - 1.53%
   
   
2. How many times a quarter do you go into Chicago on Saturday?
   0 - 3.55%
   1-2 - 23.98%
   3-4 - 36.11%
   5+ - 36.36%
   
   
3. How many times a quarter would you use a Saturday?
   0 - 1.98%
   1-2 - 13.74%
   3-4 - 36.28%
   5+ - 48%
   
   
4. Would you go into Chicago more often if it were offered on Saturdays?
   Yes - 98.39%
   No - 1.61%
   
   
5. Please check times for which you would like an inbound route (to Chicago):
   12 pm - 80.13%
   2 pm - 82.31%
   4 pm - 77.27%
   6 pm - 75.65%
   8 pm - 62.19%
   10 pm - 47%
   
   
6. Please check times for which you would like an outbound route (from Chicago):
   1 pm - 36.44%
   3 pm - 53.53%
   5 pm - 73.4%
   7 pm - 78.19%
   9 pm - 84.04%
   11 pm - 84.6%
   1 am - 74.2%
   
   
7. What is the maximum you would be willing to pay per one-way ride?
   $0 - 14.79%
   $1 - 30.35%
   $2 - 42.89%
   $3+ - 10.8%
   
   
8. It is possible that a Saturday could stop at other Chicago locations besides the Ward Building. Please select the attractions in Chicago where you would like the bus to stop:
   Navy Pier - 52.16%
   Millenium Park - 76.62%
   North Michigan Avenue (Water Tower) - 75.17%
   South Michigan Avenue (Wrigley Building, Riverfront) - 45.55%
   Museum Campus (Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium) - 66.38%
   Other attractions: (write-in) - 11.21%

—ALICE TRUONG

UBPC recruits help of ASG committees

In tomorrow's Daily, you'll find in out a lot about how the Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee will present its recommendations to some senior university administrators this Friday. Though results will not be disclosed until UBPC meets with the university budget committee, with members including President Henry Bienen, Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Banis and Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine, the recommendations will help UBPC rank the recommedations.

UBPC, made up of six members, will present four recommendations: wireless Internet on campus, 24-hour study spaces, downtown Chicago Saturday shuttle and renovations to the ground floor of Norris University Center. These issues were gathered from an open December poll in which students listed services they would like to have at Northwestern. A more recent poll posted in early February asked students to rate what the four recommendations.

Several of the recommendations on the priorities list are issues that members of Associated Student Government have been working on themselves. For example, Kate Pascale's external relations committee has been working with university services to create a weekend downtown Chicago shuttle. The committee also put up a poll recently, asking students about what their usage of such a proposed shuttle would be like. UBPC chairwoman Jessica Wash said that she has been collaborating research with Pascale and the external relations committee, and the committee poll results were shared with UBPC.

ASG Academic Vice President Anna Xu's academic committee's wireless subcommittee has been working with Northwestern University Information Technology to see the feasibility of wireless. The results of a recent meeting with NUIT seem good, said Anna Xu who said it is her goal to have wireless in all the dorms by this upcoming Fall Quarter. The academic subcommittee has also worked with UBPC with its research. It has found that 58 percent, or 11, of 19 comparable (in terms of size and status) Consortium on Financing Higher Education institutions have wireless Internet in their dorm. NU falls in line with the eight universities that don't have wireless Internet in their dorms.

Wireless Internet has been a reoccurring UBPC recommendation since 2001, Wash said. Since then, the university has made certain steps toward a wireless campus with its first Virtual Private Network set up in 2002. Last year, students ranked wireless Internet first in the 2007 UBPC poll. Because wireless Internet was packaged with improving cell phone coverage, the university focused on the latter to increase communication options in wake of the Virginia Tech shooting in April.

The other two options include less involvement on the part of ASG members, although it should be noted that the ASG president is an honorary member in the committee, and the recently retired ASG financial vice president Aneesa Arshad is part of the committee as well.

Some interesting points to be made about the other two recommendations:

• In her report about Norris renovations, Arshad said the suggestion to change the ground floor can be traced back to the ASG president from 1984. A quote from last year stated that completely overhauling Norris with new furniture and a new kitchen area would cost $6 million to $8 million. To renovate the ground floor area that doesn't include the kitchen would cost about $2 million less. However, these numbers are a year old and vary with contractors, Arshad said.
• Of US News and World Report's list of national institutions, 18 of the top 20 universities have 24-hour spaces. NU is one of two that doesn't have such a space. A note to keep in mind is that during the Fall Quarter, library hours were extended after UBPC proposed the change last year. At the beginning of Winter Quarter, university and dining officials were thinking of scaling back the University Library's Plaza Cafe hours because not enough students were using them.

—ALICE TRUONG