Cold weather alters transportation

Winter correlates with snowmen, snowballs, snow flakes and

believe it or not … snow. When the weather is poor outside, some

people are forced to re-plan their regular methods of getting to

campus.

Some people prefer making their way to class while enjoying the

outdoors at the same time. Cortney Wands, graduate student studying

bio-archeology, walks or rides her bike every day but changes her

means of transportation with the snow.

“I’ll probably walk more times in the winter ’cause I wiped out

on the ice last year on my bike,” Wands said. “I’m not going to

come to class soaking wet again.”

Lauren Reinalda, a senior wildlife biology major, will also

continue to walk.

“I walk for environmental reasons, to decrease my impact on the

environment,” Reinalda said, adding that the only problem in winter

is crossing a slippery street.

More students may take advantage of the heated buses when the

air turns chilly.

“I drive and park in the Z Lot but I’m gonna start trying to

take the bus this winter on the icy days,” said Kelly Derr,

graduate student studying archeology.

Many people may share the same idea and take advantage of the

bus, which is free to students and faculty. Jamie Moyer, Transfort

marketing analyst, said ridership noticeably increases in the

winter, including the number of bikes on buses.

“People who don’t necessarily live on a bus route have been

riding their bikes to a bus stop and then taking the bus the rest

of the way,” Moyer said, adding that the most crowded hours are in

the mornings and about 3 p.m.

Students living far away from campus or needing to commute to

work after school may wish to take the bus in the winter but

cannot, leaving them with the option of dealing with parking on

campus.

“All my roommates take the bus but I drive and I park in Egypt

because there’s no parking available. I can’t take the bus because

I have to drive to work after school,” said Emily Stone, a

sophomore business marketing major.

There are also people who feel adamant about driving all year

and may anticipate difficult times ahead.

“It’s harder to park in the winter because they plow and build

snow on the sides of the streets. They just toss it off to the

sides and leave it. It’s kind of ridiculous,” said Brian Pierce, an

open option sophomore who takes his vehicle to class every day of

the year.

Walking, biking and riding the bus may seem like the most common

means of transportation, but students some may show creativity with

anything on wheels, even though it may mean even more hassles just

to get to class. Rachel Horning, freshman art major, witnessed her

friend ride an electric scooter to school each day, even in the

winter. “It only goes 35 miles per hour so everyone would always

pass her. In the wintertime, she would bundle up and it would

sometimes get stuck in the snow. When it would get stuck, she would

have to push it to school,” Horning said, adding that if there were

too much weight on the scooter, it would tip over.