JARED BURLESON | The Daily Mississippian
The Mark Condominiums is soon getting a bus stop along the Green Route of the O.U.T network.
Residents of Oxford condominium development The Mark have long been in need of a bus stop on the O.U.T. network, with the nearest option to catch the bus being nearly half a mile away at The Connection.
The Oxford-University Transit Commission approved a $2.5 million budget for 2014 authored by city planner Tim Akers to be submitted for approval by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Among the bus purchases and repairs allocated for in the new budget is an extension of the Green Route that services Old Taylor Road.
The Green Route buses will run to city limits, extending current routes to include complexes such as The Mark and the soon-to-be-completed Faulkner Flats.
While lack of service to a single complex may not scream for attention on the surface, most residents of The Mark are limited to traveling to campus by battling campus parking, biking or making the trek to The Connection.
Most would agree the addition to the bus route cannot come soon enough.
Junior nursing major Corey Simmons said the lack of viable transportation options led to his moving closer to campus so as to have access to the O.U.T. bus stop at University Trails.
“It was the worst,” Simmons said. “I had to leave my apartment in the back of The Mark by 7 o’clock in the morning to make it to the bus stop at the Connection by 7:30 or I’d end up being late for my 8 o’clock class. It sounds like I’m just whining about having to walk, but it gets really cold at 7:15 in the morning, especially when there’s rain pouring down. The lack of a sidewalk didn’t help much either.”
Sophomore integrated marketing communications major Shawn Buelow said he is considering access to O.U.T. bus routes as he looks into housing options for the fall.
“I’ve got a couple friends that live out there (beyond bus routes),” Buelow said. “Their place is really nice, you don’t get a lot noise from neighbors or anything, but one thing I hear always complain about is how much of a pain it is to have to walk from The Connection to their apartments.”
While Buelow does own a car, he said that the hassles of parking on campus prevent him from seeing driving as a first choice.
“Where I live now isn’t the worst place, but I’d really like to get closer to campus,” he said. “There are other places on Old Taylor to live, but they’re not all as quiet or have as much room as The Mark does.”
In addition to the extension of the Green Route to the city limits, the Orange Route will now be running an hour later, servicing until 6:30 p.m., and the Yellow Route is extending its line to include West Oxford Loop.
