Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Forum

This Saturday's inaugural run of the "Chicago Express" may appear to be a great success for the Associated Student Government, but the pilot program disappoints by only making the shuttle available for Fall Quarter.

NU students should be pleased to finally have a free option for weekend transportation into the city. ASG and the Undergraduate Budget Priorities committee should likewise be commended for acting quickly after a NULink survey last winter found that 98 percent of the 2 ,500 students polled supported a Saturday shuttle service and for turning it into a reality in a few months.

But as approved by the University Budget Committee last spring, the $12,000 for a Saturday shuttle was to be used for a yearlong program. ASG's External Relations committee, also integral in the proposal stages of the Saturday shuttle, originally priced a pilot program at $6,554.80.

So why, with $12,000 readily available, is the university withholding any promises of a yearlong shuttle service?

The argument that rising fuel costs are pulling university purse strings seems implausible at best. Gas prices now are fairly similar to April, when the budget money for the shuttle was approved. Rising gas prices were also foreseeable last spring, in which case there should have been some allowance for them in the original approval.

The university should not pass off a fall pilot program as the best it can do, given the resources allocated and the goals set originally. With such widespread student support since the proposal's inception, the university needs to make student life more of a priority and make a yearlong Saturday shuttle a reality.

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