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.
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