No increase to Core Campus shuttle service unless overcrowding continues, director says

By Gabriel Donahue, editor in chief 

Towson Parking and Transportation Services will not increase the frequency of the Core Campus shuttles despite students often experiencing overcrowding on the West Village route. 

Pamela Mooney, director of Parking and Transportation, said the department tracks the ridership of every route. Although she said there is a noticeable increase in the number of riders at certain times, it does not persist for long enough to need more buses running during the peak. 

Finances play a role in the decision. Mooney said it costs around $50,000 to operate each shuttle route per year. This price tag includes gas, maintenance and paying the driver. Adding buses for a couple of hours would increase this cost, and could affect auxiliary student fees. 

“It’s not feasible when we do have capacity on earlier buses,” she said. 

If overdemand did continue for hours at a time, then they will reevaluate, Mooney said. The monitoring of ridership is to “ensure we are providing the level of transportation services our students need to navigate around campus safely and timely,” Vice President of Operations Steve Jones said in an email Wednesday. 

A document provided by Mooney showed that ridership on the West Village Core Campus route accounted for almost half of the total averages for the 2022-23 academic year. There was a weekly average of 2,699 riders for that route, while all other routes averaged a combined 2,868 riders per week. 

Overall shuttle ridership was up 22% last year, Jones said at the Student Fees Forum in February. An adjustment to shuttle frequency would depend upon that increase being sustained, he said in response to a concern about the overcrowding. 

Then-senior Richard Soucy had said packed shuttles led to students being late or missing class even if they were on time to the bus stop. 

“There’s a sweet spot in there somewhere and we just haven’t found it, but we certainly understand and recognize that when the ridership goes up, we have to have more frequent buses,” Jones said at the forum. 

While the data collected by Parking and Transportation may not warrant an expansion of certain routes, the issue is familiar for some students. 

Junior Victoria Nguyen said she uses the shuttle specifically to travel between West Village and the science and math buildings. 

She said she has seen shuttles need to drive away leaving students at the bus stop because there is not enough room for more riders. 

“There have been too many times … Every time in the morning, it always is an issue,” Nguyen said. 

Senior Tijia Fuller also said she has seen groups of students who need to wait for the next bus due to overcrowding. 

Mooney recommends taking an earlier or later bus to avoid overcrowding at peak times. She said the beginning of the semester tends to see more shuttle riders as students are getting used to their schedules. 

This year, students will see changes to two off-campus routes. Parking and Transportation has discontinued the Armory route, and instead added those stops to the Kenilworth route. 

Mooney said this is more cost-effective, and provides better service, as the Kenilworth route runs longer and more frequently throughout the week.