Wash U Shuttle / Jeepney

Smart City with Carol Coletta interviewed the new president of Portland State University.  He said that he justified spending $4 million in student fees on a light rail line because it meant he wouldn't need to build as many parking garages on campus.  He also said that the six most popular train stations in Portland were on PSU's campus. 

Smart City often stresses using a city's universities as anchors for the region.  I can't help but note that most of St. Louis's universities are clustered together around Forest Park and Midtown.  UMSL and Webster are kind of far out there.  All are connected to the metrolink now.  They are TOD.  If I put them on a map and drew lines between them, they might like look this,

Webster's left out because I'd need a much bigger map to include it, but their downtown extension is quite important to consider.

I once had an internship in the Central West End while I lived in the loop.  I could have taken the metrolink, but the station was just slightly far away.  Instead, I took a Wash U shuttle.

Wash U shuttles are really good (operated by Metro).  They run on time and they have fixed routes.  The only problem is that you're supposed to be a Wash U student to ride them.  That's not very good. 
UMSL has a few shuttles.  I'm not sure about SLU.  A lot of the smaller colleges probably don't.  A friend of mine lived in the residence halls at UMSL but took classes at Ranken.  I bet he would have appreciated a shuttle service.

The fact is that students are not picky about how they get around.  They're poor, full of life, and eager to volunteer.  They need cheap transportation.  The kind that's easy to cobble together with a lawnmower and sheetmetal.  I've often considered making my own little electric shuttle and taking students from place to place in a big triangle.  Along the way, I could hit Forest Park, the Loop, the Central West End, and cheap parts of town open for student housing.

I know do-it-yourself transit pretty well.  In Indonesia, I took Mikrolets all over the place.  These are the Javanese version of a share taxi.  They're pretty great.  A guy pulls up in a little van with two destinations written on it.  People pile in, and off he goes.  You can try to talk him down on the price or just give him a dollar when you get out.  Many are independently owned.

My favorite share taxi is the Jeepney.  Manila is a horrible place, and their light rail system is the worst I've ever used--EVER.    The Jeepney though is wonderful. It's a homemade public bus--owner operated and personalized.

The great thing about the Jeepney is that it is always a unique experience.  They are all personalized and have their own outrageous names.  We asked how to get to the inter-city bus station (a mini-bus station actually) and we were told to take the Socialite.  The individual Jeepney had a name, just like a boat or spaceship.

The Jeepney's name and form comes from all the jeeps left by US forces after WWII in Manila.  Locals claimed them, personalized them, and then modified them as they started breaking down.  Now they make custom Jeepneys out of sheet metal and scavenged parts.  Incredible really.

How does this all relate to the WashU shuttle?

Well, there are three things that could be done.  We could continue the way we currently operate.  I could buy an old school bus, convert it to an EV with help from the Gateway Electric Vehicle Club, and then set up my own route with a couple friends.  ...  but who would protect us from lawsuits for things we don't anticipate?  Like Metro defending its status as the only transit operator in the city.

Or...

All the schools in the picture above could coordinate a shuttle system with shared expenses that's cheaper for everyone involved.  A share taxi program for universities instead of a share taxi for individuals.  Shuttles would circulate around the above triangle and fan out of it at various angles.  Everyone rides free, including regular citizens that happen to be lucky enough to live and work along the routes.  Metrolink could also be free from Union Station to UMSL North as part of the deal.  UMSL, SLU, and WashU would integrate bus, shuttle, and train interchanges on their campuses with the money they are not spending on parking garages.  A pilot bike share program could then be started at each of the big three as well as the metro stations in between.

 Most schools in the region already pay metro to allow their students to ride free with semester passes.  If all that money was pooled along with what is being spent on the various shuttles currently operating, and including a few new players like Ranken and Harris-Stowe, the sum total would be impressive indeed.  This money could be met by some commitment from Metro to coordinate, plan, and operate accordingly.  By pooling together for one college shuttle program, the region would be all the more eligible for transit grants such as those now offered by the DOT.


The important thing to remember though is that the buses/shuttles must be iconic and known to all.  The WashU gold shuttle should be gold, not white.  The Garden Express fits into our system.  Everybody knows it.  It's the one with all the flowers on it.  If our little campus to campus shuttles featured the school colors and mascots, we'd certainly know which schools they stopped at.  If we see a bear skewered by a trident, we know it is the WashU/UMSL bus.  A Bilikin dressed like a doctor checking out a bear's health?  That's the SLU Med to WashU Danforth.  If we see the Gorlock being chased by a hornet toward the arch while a Bilikin doctor laughs, we know that's the Webster shuttle from their main campus to dowtown via SLU Med and Harris-Stowe.

UMSL currently has a Center for Transportation Studies that could play a much bigger role in the city if such a shuttle system were created and they entered into a partnership with the other universities and Metro.  A shared endowment for the program could accomodate a couple professorships and fellowships.