Photo by Amanda Wang
By Grace Moody, For The Miami Student
Barons Bus Lines' recent College Connection service is finishing a successful year of providing transportation services to colleges around the Ohio area. College Connection was added last year and offers pick-ups and drop-offs for students from eight colleges.
Of these colleges are The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Miami University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Michigan, West Virginia University, Marietta College and most recently added, Ohio University.
According to the family-owned bus service's Vice President, John Goebel, the College Connection is especially popular among students during college breaks. Goebel is pleased with the ridership from Miami, which is usually about eight to 10 students each day.
He credits the success of the recent College Connection to working directly with colleges themselves and partnering with local transits to increase students' travel possibilities. A popular transit that Barons partners with is Greyhound.
"Many students will take it to Toledo and then transfer to Greyhound, or have their parents pick them up there to go to Cleveland," Goebel said. "Riders also commonly ride from Miami to Indianapolis and then transfer to Greyhound from there to get to Chicago."
Baron's College Connection also has a local transit bus stop located close to Cleveland State University. Goebel said it is strategic partnerships with local transits such as this that makes transportation for students much easier.
First-year Delaney Mandel, a Miami student who has traveled on Barons Bus Lines' College Connection, enjoys the convenience of this transportation service to visit her friends at other schools. Mandel particularly visits the University of Cincinnati often for $10 a ticket.
"It makes it more convenient since I'm a first-year student and I don't have a car," Mandel said. "So, in order to visit people it's very convenient to have the bus system that connects universities."
In addition to working with local transits, Goebel mentioned some other advantages of the College Connection. He explained the extra convenience for underclassmen students who do not have a car on campus.
"Most freshmen and sophomores don't have cars, and we all know how difficult parking can be at universities," Goebel said. "We also offer very discounted rates."
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Due to a partnership with local transits, discounted prices and convenient drop-offs and pick-ups, Goebel is pleased with the success of the College Connection.
Within its first year of service, however, Barons has noticed some need for improvement and has made a few changes within its College Connection service.
Along with providing transportation within nearby colleges, Barons Bus Lines recently added a line from Charleston, West Virginia's capital, to Morgantown, home of West Virginia University.
Another change made with this service is a decreased number of routes from Miami to the University of Cincinnati. Goebel said that these routes were cut due to low ridership.
It is the Friday and Sunday routes that were recently cut. Students will now have a more limited number of routes to choose from to get to University of Cincinnati.
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