Additions to Miami Metro routes will include the completed Farmer School of Business in fall 2009.
The Miami University Metro routes will be undergoing slight alterations in an effort to accommodate students with the opening of the new Farmer School of Business (FSB) in fall 2009.
Perry Gordon, director of parking and transportation services, estimates about 690,000 riders have utilized the Miami Metro system since the start of the school year in August.
Gordon said the number of riders will increase to 750,000 or 800,000 by the end of the semester.
According to the parking services Web site, the Miami Metro provides seven color-coded Oxford routes: four main routes (blue, red, green and yellow), which interconnect allowing passengers to transfer from one route to another, along with two purple express routes and an orange route that goes to Ditmer parking lot.
With the addition of the business school, a few stops and routes will need to be redesigned, according to Gordon.
"The main goal of this project is to make things more efficient for students," said Gordon.
Gordon said the opening of FSB will have a large impact on parking and traffic in that area. The number of pedestrians will significantly increase causing a pedestrian shift to the corner of Patterson Avenue and High Street. There are tentative plans to install a traffic signal to serve the school of business and maintain the safety of pedestrians and vehicles, according to Gordon.
As for the bus routes and stops, Gordon said there are plans to close off the north end of the West Cook parking lot and potentially move the bus stop access across from the entry of Bishop Circle.
The main routes in and around the new business school are red and green, which means there may be a necessity to remove the current red and green routes out of the West Cook parking lot, according to Gordon.
There are no plans, however, to add an eighth route, rather just to reroute the current buses.
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"We've reviewed a couple of possibilities, plan to consult ASG (Associated Student Government) representatives and talk to students," Gordon said.
Gordon said Miami Metro ridership is up 29 percent since March 2008. Gordon said he expects the number of riders to increase with the new business school location.
In addition to a few reroutes, Gordon said the parking office plans to make timetables on the bus stops signs easier to read, as they have been doing for the past few years.
According to Gordon, this is a big advancement and a next step in improvement. He said he wants students to be able to look at the timetables located at every stop and have the ability to see not only the next arrival time, but also, each and every bus stop and arrival time included in that route.
Gordon said he wants to make these changes and the routes surrounding the business school as efficient as possible.
By providing updated information on signs and keeping the buses running on a 30-minute circuit, Gordon plans for a bus to arrive every 15 minutes.
As students' inputs are crucial to these modifications, Gordon said he is keeping their interests as top priority.
"I will be needing to learn the Metro system, given the new location of the business school, and am happy to hear they are considering the effects on students and attempting to make it more efficient," junior accounting major Laura Vrana said.
There are no final changes made at this point, however, Gordon said he believes the input of ASG representatives will help finalize many pertinent decisions.
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