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John Bethune | The Appalachian
Senior sociology major Carmen
Hannah waits for the AppalCART outside Kerr Scott Hall. |
AppalCART hopes to up flow, lower tardiness
by Amanda Fowler
Staff Writer
The AppalCART stop in front of many apartment complexes might give a
sense of hope to new tennets. Thoughts of leaving expensive parking passes
and navigating hectic Rivers Street traffic dancing in their heads.
However, as the AppalCART’s scheduled time came and went on the
first day of classes, the excitement of this supposedly great idea began
to fade and the reality of walking to class in Boone’s below zero
winter temperatures looked like it might become a harsh reality.
For many students who rely on the AppalCART as their sole means of transportation
to and from campus, late buses can result in being tardy to class, meetings
or other on campus activities.
“I take it everyday and it’s always late by at least five minutes,” said
Jackson O. Joyner, a sophomore undecided major.
Despite numerous student complaints concerning the bus’ punctuality
this year, AppalCART Transportation Director Chris Turner has good
news.
“The AppalCART is always late on the first week of school,” Turner
says. "As students become more used to their schedules, the AppalCARTs
will be better able to stick to their own schedules.”
“It was late on my first day of class and I missed my class, but
other than that it’s been good,” said sophomore child development
major Alice M. Kinsey.
With the first chaotic weeks of class passing, the AppalCART will become
more reliable, for the transition into the school year is difficult for
them as well.
“The first few days of class are always harder for us too because
we don’t have as many drivers,” Turner said.
There are hundreds of variables that could result in the
AppalCART’s
delayed arrival. For example, the Mountaineer Village Apartment complex
has recently increased in size, causing the Orange route to be more
crowded than in the past.
The number of riders is already up this year, as compared to last year.
On the first day of classes alone, AppalCART logged in 4,641 passengers
and 4,876 the next day.
Increased student traffic on Boone’s roads, as well as the ever-changing
construction patterns could also be contributing to the AppalCART’s
tardy arrivals.
“Traffic isn’t flowing very well,” Turner
said.
In the past, one of AppalCART’s responsibilities
was to bus area elementary school children to their after-school sports
events, a service that they will no longer offer this year.
This will allow AppalCART to better serve the regular in-town routes
with more buses and drivers during the afternoons than there may have
been before.
Besides the time issue, students have been questioning
the reliability of the AppalCART in anticipation of winter as well. However,
if last year’s statistics are any indicator for the upcoming winter,
have no fear, as the AppalCART never shut down for an entire day due
to bad road conditions.
“Normally, if it’s just snow we’ll run unless it’s
getting too deep or extremely cold and windy,” Turner said. “We’ll
be running unless we communicate with the University and that usually
happens pretty early in the morning.”
In the event that the AppalCART would need to shut down their routes,
students would be able to receive this information by listening to WATA
(AM 1450) or WECR (FM 102.3).
In further efforts to become more efficient, AppalCART will be adding
a few new, bigger buses at the end of September. These new buses will
replace older ones on more popular routes such as Pop 105 to prevent
students from being left behind due to overcrowding.
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