More people riding shuttle buses on campus
Increase in Zipcar rentals may be a factor

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Ridership on the Rice shuttle service around the central campus is up 30 percent this year.

More than 19,550 riders boarded shuttle buses from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9; during a comparable period last year, only 15,057 riders used the shuttle service. The passenger counts are tallied by shuttle drivers during a designated week each year and do not include the off-campus routes or chartered buses. The numbers are analyzed to determine if the frequency of shuttle service needs to be adjusted at particular times.

	JEFF FITLOW

Based on the weekly totals by hour, the most popular time to ride the shuttle this year is from noon to 1 p.m., when 1,914 riders boarded over the five-day monitoring period. But the biggest surge in ridership occurred between 11 a.m. and noon, when 1,533 riders — an increase of 75 percent over the same time last year — boarded throughout the week.

Given the increase of more than 100 students in this year’s freshman class, it stands to reason that the buses would be transporting more people. But that alone would not explain this year’s 30 percent boost in ridership, according to Eugen Radulescu, director of administrative services. He estimated that about 80 percent of shuttle riders are students.

Radulescu thinks the availability of a Zipcar program on campus has helped increase the number of shuttle riders because it has decreased the need to have a car on campus.

Introduced on campus in August 2008, the Zipcar is available to students, faculty and staff for hourly or daily rental. The service has been so successful that Rice will be adding a third Zipcar (a Honda CRV) to the Toyota Prius and Volvo S40 that are currently available.

“We received many phone calls from parents of students asking if Rice has a Zipcar program, and they were so happy to hear that we do because it meant their child could get by without bringing a car to campus,” Radulescu said.

During September 2008, Rice’s Zipcars were rented a total of 183 hours; last month the cars were out and about 450 hours. Radulescu said it’s not just students who are renting the Zipcars; in July, when the students were away, usage was 213 hours.

As the shuttle ridership and Zipcar rentals have gone up, the number of cars registered to students on campus has gone down. Last year undergraduate students registered 1,490 cars on campus, and this year only 1,302 have been registered.

Radulescu has noticed more bicycles on campus this year, and that might also be driving up the demand for shuttle service. According to Rice police, 671 bikes were registered this year.

Campus visits by potential students and their parents have also increased 25 percent this year, according to Chris Muñoz, vice president for Enrollment.

Regardless of the factors contributing to the higher number of shuttle passengers, Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby said there’s no question that more people are moving about the campus. “There’s a real sense of increased vibrancy around the campus this year, and that’s one of the V2C goals,” he said.