College officials agree with International students on the proposed problem with transportation and say they want to change it.
Kelly Keer, Director of the Office of International Programs, said that every year the international students are shocked by the lack of possibility to get around and, “we know it is a problem.”
She also said that they address that problem in emails with the exchange students before they come and on the International Programs website, “but we should stress it more and make it more prominent on the website of OIP (Office of International Programs).”
President Tipson said in response to WC’s website, “I can see why somebody might have thought ‘well, that means I can get [to DC, Baltimore or Philadephia] in 90 minutes, when in fact you have to find someone who owns a car to get you there. I don’t know what we should say, should we say, you’re 90 minutes away, but you have to have a car?”
President Tipson said that they are looking into other ways to make transportation available. “I’m not ready to give you specifics yet, but there are companies that will provide service.” He added that it is always a question of demand and “we’re not willing to lose huge amounts of money if it’s only going to be a few students using it.”
A Senate committee for the shuttle has been formed and is becoming more active. Some of the exchange students last year wrote a petition for the Senate to add extra destinations to the shuttle and got about 200 signatures.
The Senate passed the legislation to add extra destinations and decided to create a committee, but it was already the end of the spring semester.
“We have 13 active members right now, and we are now in the research mode”, said Sophomore Lauren Seeley, Senator for East Hall.
The shuttle committee is now looking into shuttle services at surrounding schools to see what transportation service they offer. The shuttle committee wants to extend the shuttle to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, Dover and maybe even New York City once per semester.
Seeley said that the prices will probably be higher for the extra destinations.
Seeley also said that the transportation services are willing to add more destinations but need more funds for that.
The shuttle committee is working on changing the transportation service. Seeley said, “It is possible to see some changes even this semester, but no drastic ones, maybe a service to Philadelphia every other weekend.”
“The shuttle committee was an I-student initiative but a lot of American students will benefit from it as well.” Seeley said.
Keer also suggested to extend and promote the shuttle service more, especially since the school is trying to go green, and the shuttle is a good way to save gas and reduce emissions.
Sophomore Maggie Kobik, one of the American students who doesn’t have a car on campus, said, “The shuttle service is completely insufficient. There is not much around here and before I came here I didn’t realize that. The website and even the tour made it sound so easy to get around. One of the reasons I came to this school is that I thought I could get to Philadelphia. The school is so worried about the retention rate but if the transport service was better it would also help the retention rate,” Kobik said.
Senior Carmen Castillo, who is from Puerto Rico but has lived in the States for five years, also doesn’t own a car and says, “It would really help if the shuttle went to Wilmington because otherwise my parents have to come and pick me up every time I want to go home.”
Even though she lived in this area for a while, she didn’t know that the school was so isolated. “It would be a lot better if the shuttle would at least go to a few different places and have service not only on the weekends. It would be good to have a few more options.”
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