1/31/03

NEW ROUTES, NEW SCHEDULES FOR TIGER TRANSIT SYSTEM

AUBURN -- Tiger Transit will change some of its bus routes, schedules and procedures, effective Monday (Feb. 3), to enable faculty, staff and students to get around the Auburn University campus more easily.

The changes are intended to ease the pressure on the parking areas in the central campus by making outlying areas more accessible, says Christine Curtis, associate provost for Facilities.

Three new bus routes will offer continuous service intended to move passengers across campus or directly to parking areas with projected average run times of six minutes per trip.

Color-codes on buses will help riders identify which buses to take to parking areas or around campus. Five other bus routes will remain unchanged for now.

The changes coincide with the indefinite closing of Roosevelt Drive between Mell Street and Duncan Drive for construction of the new $38.9 million Science Laboratories Center on sites now occupied by the east end of Saunders Hall and Extension Cottage.

The three-building complex, which will provide 135,000-square feet of space for classrooms, teaching laboratories and a 300-seat auditorium, will open in summer 2005. It will house all core class for biology and chemistry and undergraduate classes in chemistry and zoology.

Because of the construction, the central campus will lose 131 parking spaces along Roosevelt and adjacent areas.

When the laboratories complex is completed, the street may reopen or remain closed as part of a program approved by the Board of Trustees last year. That plan would channel traffic and parking to the campus perimeter, limiting the interior to pedestrians and a transit system.

Curtis said the changes in the transit system will address most of the reasons that people now give for seeking parking close to the core of campus. As a result, outlying parking areas are frequently empty.

Clearly defined bus routes will help riders know which bus to take to reach parking or other destinations. The routes will be publicized, and buses will run continuous routes with brief stops for loading and unloading at clearly designated bus stops.

In the past, buses idled at stops while waiting for passengers to arrive and board. Now, the buses will adhere to schedules to provide timely and dependable service to riders, Curtis said.

The buses are available for no charge for faculty and staff, with ID cards, as well as students, she added.

The blue-line buses will offer ³park-and-ride² service to carry passengers from distant parking areas such as the Intramural Fields to Haley Center and back. The orange-line buses will make a continuous circle through campus, and green-line buses will have continuous loops around the western perimeter of campus. New routes and schedules for the remaining five Tiger Transit routes will be announced shortly.

Click here for the new color-coded routes and map.

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jan03:AU-transit

CONTACT: 334/844-5937.