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The Student Government Association is in search of funding for a new system for its shuttle buses, which would increase ridership and make the campus more environmentally friendly.
The system is from Clever Devices, a company that provides sustainable transit solutions.
According to the Clear Devices Web site, the system would calculate the arrival times of the buses using GPS technology and communicate the information to students via handheld wireless devices, the Internet and electronic signs.
Tyson Johnston, the SGA vice president of Public Relations, discussed the plans at the Cooperative Activities Board meeting last Thursday.
Johnston said that to get the system for one bus, the cost would be $40,000, and to get the system for both buses, the cost would be $60,000.
Johnston said the system would be beneficial to the environment because more students would ride the buses rather than driving their cars to get to campus.Another feature of the system is an automatic passenger counting, Johnston said.
“Right now we count passengers, but it is just a paper tally, which leaves room for error,” Johnston said.
With the more accurate passenger numbers that the new system would provide, the information could be analyzed to see if a third bus needs to be dispatched to a certain location, Johnston said.
Johnston said that like city buses, the shuttle buses would be equipped with electronic signs telling passengers where the next stop is.
Currently, SGA has a contract with Campbell Bus Lines, which states that SRU will be provided with two new buses every five years.
“It’s a long-term investment,” Johnston said.
“It’s something that can be transferred from bus to bus.”
The Green Fund, which has a $20,000 grant available to faculty and students in any major or program to support sustainable-progressive projects, is one possible source of funding.
Johnston said that even if the proposal does not receive the grant, it is something that will still likely happen.
“We are going to pursue all funding sources,” Johnston said.
According to Dr. Julie Snow, associate professor of geography, geology and the environment, the application deadline was Monday. A meeting will be held March 13 and the decision will be announced the following week.
The decision will be made by the Green Fund Advisory Board, Snow said, which is made up of SRU students, faculty, an administrator, a representative of the facilities staff and a member of the off-campus community.
“We have a rubric that we follow in terms of evaluating the proposal,” Snow said. “We look at how well things were addressed, if the budget is reasonable and if it would be feasible in one semester.”
Snow said that more than one proposal could receive funding depending on how much money was asked for.
“Each proposal gets ranked, and the ones at the top get funded,” Snow said.
Another proposal was made that aims at cutting back on students driving their cars to campus.
Steve Roberts, director of Outdoor Adventures, was involved with a proposal requesting funding for bikes.
Roberts said that currently, students could sign bikes out for a few days at the Bailey Library.
“The proposal is to get more bikes that students could check out for the entire semester,” Roberts said. “They could use the bikes for regular transportation and cut back on their carbon footprint.”
Another proposal, made by Emily Bragonier, a 33-year-old graduate student, had a different goal than transportation.
Bragonier requested funding to apply 3M films to the windows of an undecided building, which would decrease window glare and block ultraviolet rays.
The goals of Bragonier’s proposal were increasing energy efficiency and reducing window reflectivity to prevent bird-window collisions.
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