The OUT buses’ new audio system announces when a bus is arriving, the next destination, bus routes and departures to help disabled students.
In the future, buses will include additional features to make campus transportation easier for students who suffer from sight or hearing loss.
“We installed this annunciation system to aid students who may be visually impaired,” Mike Harris, director of parking, said. “This way they can hear the stops clearly and use the bus system more efficiently.”
Plans for LED lights to be installed will help hearing-impaired students and automatic passenger counters will reduce the distraction of the driver.
OUT will establish two North and South Hub Stations, where buses will pick up and drop off students in the fall of 2017, to increase accessibility and convenience. The stations will be located on campus so students will only have to walk as far as 4 minutes to reach the station.
“Next fall we also plan to have an internal system, which will only loop around campus, and an external system, which will take students solely off campus,” Harris said. “This will make the flow and utilization of the system less congested.”
There are currently 26 buses total and 13 different routes, including the Safe-Ride night route, which is designed to decrease drunk driving throughout Oxford on nights and weekends.
Harris said campus is an environment with a constant turnover of students, which include new freshmen who aren’t familiar with the campus and students with disabilities.
“We want to familiarize these students however best we can,” Harris said.
“I ride the bus to campus from Molly Barr apartments every day and I’ve noticed a change in the way the bus system functions from last year,” integrated marketing communications major Meredith Hull said. “I think the bus system is incredibly convenient and reliable already, but simple changes or additions do make a noticeable difference.”
The transportation system spends anywhere from $10,000 to $14,000 on one bus each month. The Parking and Transportation office is not funded by the university, but instead by the Rural Transit Assistance Program.
Transportation is free for students. The office also receives an additional amount of funds from parking passes, parking tickets and paid meters.
“We are a standalone business with separate funding, so we’re very limited, but transportation is an asset,” Harris said. “The future of transit is going to be huge, and we make the most out of what we can.”
