The Observer, March 30, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 22
Improvements to be made to Greenie system, again
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Campus Greenie woes may soon be a thing of the past. Myles Nickolich (vice president of student affairs and chair of the Student Life Committee) and his Transportation and Security Sub-Committee have been working with the administration, University Circle neighbors, students, and Standard Parking to try toimprove the system that Student Life Committee member Ali Hasanali describes as "inefficient, unpredictable."
The committee has identified a number of common student complaints. The poor condition of Greenie stop shelters, confusing routes, and unreliable GPS system topped the list. The GPS system had been a symbol of hope to the students when it was first introduced, but it has since fallen short of expectations.
"GPS is a good system to have, but it needs to be refined a bit more," said Nickolich.
Overall, the Greenies are a major student concern on campus. They cause students a lot of stress and anger. When students have beef with Case, the first things on their list are "dining and Greenies," said Hasanali.
"If their purpose is also for campus security, they need to run on a much more frequent schedule at night," said senior Monica Reddy. "I have a night class across campus, and it's much faster for me to walk than wait for the Greenie."
"I stopped taking them because they are so unreliable," said junior Laura Crawford. "It's just easier to walk."
The main problem with the GPS system is that drivers often leave their routes or stop for unauthorized breaks. Their GPS trackers are always turned on, but when they deviate from their instructed schedule and route, it throws off the system. The drivers most often stop for breaks at Coventry and the Cedar RTA stop, but they are "not authorized to take breaks anywhere," said Nickolich.
The Transportation and Security Sub-Committee has six main goals that it hopes to achieve to improve the Greenie system. They hope to "design intelligent and reliable routes; to accommodate both the students and other University Circle organizations; to [display] schedules of Greenie stops and arrivals at the station, with a map; to post routes at stops and in Greenies; to improve the shelters at stops; to refine the GPS system," according to Nickolich.
One of the biggest roadblocks to change has been the inability to fully control the daytime stops. The committee feels that the current route and stop times are not the most efficient, but because Case shares its daytime Circle Link service with other University Circle locations, it is difficult to change the routes.
The group has been working since the middle of last semester to achieve some progress on the goals. They recently contacted neighboring University Circle locations that use the Circle Link system to discuss redoing the stops to make them more efficient and less difficult to understand.
The group has been working closely with the community to decide what is needed and what is going wrong. They have conducted online and paper surveys, paper surveys, and talked to riders and drivers on the Greenies. Standard Parking also conducted customer satisfaction surveys and then compared their results with what the students found.
The response has been very positive. Standard Parking does not have much control over the routes, but they are working hard to watch the GPS system and try to prevent drivers from taking unauthorized breaks and from going off-route. They have also implemented a program where they add a Greenie during the day in case of poor weather such as rain or snow. The administration has been open to student needs and requests. "The university is very positive," Nickolich said.
The group hopes to see some progress by the end of the year. "Nothing big has happened in the past, and I'd really like to see something happen this time," Nickolich said.
If you're interested in getting involved, e-mail Myles Nickolich at myles@case.edu. The Transportation and Security Sub-committee meets directly after the Student Life Committee's 5:30 p.m. meeting in the USG office. The Sub-Committee meeting generally starts around 6:15 p.m. Nickolich also encourages any students who care about the issue to continue to participate in the Greenie surveys.
