RUTGERS STUDENTS ARE IN DIRE NEED OF FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, consists of three campuses (Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden) that provide education for more than 65,000 students from all 50 states and over 115 countries. 86% of all students are New Jersey residents and 14% are from out of state.1 When a student looks for a job after receiving a degree, he or she is essentially required to have already gained work experience. Since most internship and job opportunities are located outside of Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden, the majority of students who do not own a car are being deprived of efficient preparation for entering the workforce. With the increasing cost of tuition, books, supplies, and overall cost of living, the average college student cannot afford to pay $271 for a monthly NJ Transit rail pass (price for students traveling between New Brunswick, NJ and New York Penn Station).2

The current system provides a 25% discount for students, but limits each student to use the pass only between one origin and one destination, which strictly limits transportation accessibility.2 For prospective students and professionals, the lack of affordable/free transit options outside of Rutgers’ campuses is unattractive. By providing free transit passes to current Rutgers faculty, staff, and students, the University would become more competitive among other universities, and the state would have another incentive for people to come to New Jersey to live, work, study, and play.

In Rhode Island, Brown University worked with the state’s statewide public transit system, RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority), to create the UPass program which sought to reduce car congestion in Providence and provide more transit options. “Current faculty, staff, and students are able to ride any RIPTA bus or trolley anytime, anywhere in the state at no charge. Brown’s investment in the UPass program is the latest effort in one of many transportation initiatives benefiting employees, students, and the broader community. How it works: swipe your Brown ID through RIPTA’s new fareboxes and take a seat – it’s that easy! Rides will be electronically counted and RIPTA will bill the University monthly. The University will review monthy statistics to ensure that only current, valid IDs are in use. IDs that are cancelled, lost, stolen, or obsolete will be reported to RIPTA and will not work with the new fareboxes.”3 The program, which costs Brown University approximately $150,000-200,000 annually, has been largely successful -increasing student use by 227% and faculty use by 2%. Since UPass was launched, the program has been expanded and now has more participating universities, including RISD, Providence College, and Johnson & Wales.4

Although the UPass program has been successful for Brown University, it is important to note that Rutgers is roughly 7.5 times larger than Brown, which only has a total of 8,619 students.5 Therefore, the total cost of the program for Rutgers would be significantly more expensive. However, that is not to say that such a program for Rutgers would not be a successful investment for the University and state as a whole.

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Sources:

1 http://www.rutgers.edu/about-rutgers/facts-figures

2 https://www.njtransit.com/ti/ti_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=StudentPassTo

3 www.Brown.edu/about/administration/transportation/ripta-upass

4 http://www.browndailyherald.com/2008/05/14/ripta-free-ride-program-a-big-hit-so-far/

5 www.Brown.edu/about/factsΞ