The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

Bus passes takes a back seat

By Peter Wright

A program that subsidized bus passes for Macalester community members was temporarily suspended on February 13, after it went $19,000 over budget.Sustainability Manager Suzanne Savanick Hansen said that the college budgeted $30,000 for the subsidies this year, but by February 11, they had spent nearly $49,000. With $19,000 in extra expenses, the program was ended because it had simply gone outside its bounds.

“They ended-up in a budget hole,” Hansen said.

The overspending developed with an unexpected jump in interest in bus passes. Info Desk General Manager Jon Bruns said in an e-mail that, beginning in June 2008 and ending on February 11, the school sold over 3,000 passes, more than doubling the number of passes sold during the last fiscal year.

Last year the subsidy program used approximately $15,000, but, even with the expanded budget, demand exceeded expectations.

In response to the mid-semester timing of the program suspension, the Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) and the President’s Office have assigned $5,000 to allow the program to continue, hopefully for the rest of the semester. As of Wednesday night, no official date for the return of the subsidies had been publicized, but Hansen said that it should be very soon.

“I think the hold-up right now is getting the money from MCSG,” Hansen said.

The subsidy program is part of The President’s Climate Commitment, a national program designed to reduce the carbon footprint of American colleges. In order for Macalester to take part in the campaign, it is required to offer a specified number of programs outlined by the plan. The subsidies are one of those programs.

While the college could replace the subsidies with some other kind of program to keep in line with the agreement, Hansen said that there are no plans to do that.

“We don’t have a plan to stop the program completely,” she said.

While the emergency $5,000 may help the program continue through the end of the year, Hansen said that the new focus is on changing the program to work within its assigned budget next year.

The Info Desk sells six different types of bus passes. According to data provided by Bruns, the bestselling passes since the beginning of this school year have been the $11, $22, and $44 Supersaver (stored value) Passes, filling the top three slots. The Go-To College Pass, which provides unlimited rides for a semester, and the 31-Day Passes for two different fares were the slowest sellers.

The system currently in place pays for 50% of each pass sold. So if a student purchased a Go-To College Pass, valued at $163.40, the college would pay $81.70 and the student would pay the other half.

The Go-To College Passes took the most money from the subsidy budget. Since August 22, 168 of the passes were sold, racking up $13,725 in subsidies. That’s roughly 33% of the money from the budget since August 22, while the total number of the passes sold accounted for only about 6% of the total passes sold.

The second biggest expense for the fund, the $44 stored value cards, accounted for almost 25.5% of the total passes sold since the beginning of the school year, and took a total of $12,806 out of the college fund.

One possible solution, proposed by Hansen, would focus the subsidies on the more specialized passes over the stored value cards. She suggested continuing to offer a 50% subsidy on the Go-To College Passes and the two 31-Day Passes and reducing the subsidies for stored value cards to 25%.

“Given that we don’t have an unlimited budget.it would make sense to subsidize the semester passes and the monthly Go Passes,” Hansen said.

Hansen said that if the readjusted subsidies were applied to the figures for passes sold so far, then the program would save $12,500, although, she pointed out that those numbers are probably not the best predictor of how students would purchase under the new system, since the top selling passes this year would cost more.

She said that the current system allows current students, faculty and staff to buy through the program. She said that will remain the same in the new system, but that faculty and staff would only get the 50% discount on 31-Day Passes because the semester passes are only offered to students.

The new system could encourage students to ride the bus even more, since the passes with the largest subsidies would offer unlimited rides, Hansen said. Whatever the restructured program looks like, she said that it will continue to encourage bus readership.

Rushing to the 63 bus stop on Grand to catch her ride home, Hansen described the still developing efforts at Macalester to reduce the use of cars.

She said that, in addition to restarting the subsidies program, the Sustainability Office is planning to offer smaller incentive programs, like giving mugs to any faculty or staff who try commuting by bus.

That would be combined with the already existing program from the High Winds Fund, designed to encourage faculty and staff to buy homes within walking distance and a newly announce web-based ride share program sponsored by the MCSG.

the most money from the subsidy budget. Since August 22, 168 of the passes were sold, racking up $13,725 in subsidies. That’s roughly 33% of the money from the budget since August 22, while the total number of the passes sold accounted for only about 6% of the total passes sold.

The second biggest expense for the fund, the $44 stored value cards, accounted for almost 25.5% of the total passes sold since the beginning of the school year, and took a total of $12,806 out of the college fund.

One possible solution, proposed by Hansen, would focus the subsidies on the more specialized passes over the stored value cards. She suggested continuing to offer a 50% subsidy on the Go-To College Passes and the two 31-Day Passes and reducing the subsidies for stored value cards to 25%.

“Given that we don’t have an unlimited budget.it would make sense to subsidize the semester passes and the monthly Go Passes,” Hansen said.

Hansen said that if the readjusted subsidies were applied to the figures for passes sold so far, then the program would save $12,500, although, she pointed out that those numbers are probably not the best predictor of how students would purchase under the new system, since the top selling passes this year would cost more.

She said that the current system allows current students, faculty and staff to buy through the program. She said that will remain the same in the new system, but that faculty and staff would only get the 50% discount on 31-Day Passes because the semester passes are only offered to students.

The new system could encourage students to ride the bus even more, since the passes with the largest subsidies would offer unlimited rides, Hansen said. Whatever the restructured program looks like, she said that it will continue to encourage bus readership.

Rushing to the 63 bus stop on Grand to catch her ride home, Hansen described the still developing efforts at Macalester to reduce the use of cars.

She said that, in addition to restarting the subsidies program, the Sustainability Office is planning to offer smaller incentive programs, like giving mugs to any faculty or staff who try commuting by bus.

That would be combined with the already existing program from the High Winds Fund, designed to encourage faculty and staff to buy homes within walking distance and a newly announce web-based ride share program sponsored by the MCSG.

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