Our university advertises its proximity to Washington, D.C. as a huge bonus for activities and opportunities that it readily makes available to all of its students. Countless students take advantage of this by taking the Metro into D.C. on the weekends. If the university eliminates the bus route to the College Park Metro Station on weekends, they're cutting off students from the city on their only free days of the week.

I spend every other weekend in Washington D.C., whether it's a trip with friends to enjoy the National Mall, or a trip to study or do research in a different environment such as the Library of Congress. Sometimes it's just exploring the ins and outs of Chinatown or Dupont Circle, or any of the other numerous resources and touristy areas Washington has to offer.

This cut will force students to find and pay for an alternative method of transportation either to the College Park Metro Station or directly into D.C.. With the amount of money students put into this university, the university should not be cutting essential student services. The #104 weekend service should not be cut!



http://www.dbknews.com/2018/05/07/umd-dots-bus-service-cuts-cole-field-house-metro/



We understand that DOTS has to deal with new budget cuts, but we believe the weekend #104 route is too important to cut. DOTS should try to find a less used route (or two) that can be re-scheduled to run less frequently, instead of cancelling the #104. There's also some bus routes that overlap in several areas, and maybe these could be reworked to minimize overlap and open up more funding to keep the weekend #104 going.



If there's absolutely no solution found by changing bus routes, maybe DOTS should increase fines on campus, or even permit costs. Maybe the construction of new parking lots can be delayed to save some funding. These are just some ideas we have; there has to be a way to adjust the budget plan so that we can keep this route going on weekends!