Students' intentions, input left out of new bus plan

During the '98 - '99 school year, I served as University Division representative and chairman of the educational environment committee in the IU Student Association. As one of the 70 students who passed judgment on the crown jewel of the Orensten-Preamble-Abrams-Schroder administration platform, I would like to provide a better insight into what has become a great burden to the majority of the student body.\nAccording to the proposal made by the IUSA before the Board of Trustees (php.indiana.edu/~bus/home.html), Bloomington Transit was not meant to have a monopoly over student transportation fees. Rather, that idea is the result of nine people who made no attempt to understand the plight of students in regards to transportation -- nine people who have never walked from Briscoe Quad to Swain West on a chilly winter morning. In fact, the proposal goes on to say the greatest benefit to students would be less traffic (and pollution) on campus as a result of increased campus bus usage. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a trustee, for that matter, to realize that automobile usage on campus will not decrease if students cannot ride campus buses.\nOnce again, the University has found a way to take from both ends: Students are forced to subsidize the campus bus system via the mandatory transportation fee, yet are required to pay again if they ever plan on using the service. Though I voted for the original IUSA bill, had I known the Board of Trustees would turn it into a scam to squeeze even more money out of students, I would have voted it down, no matter what the benefits lost. \nBut what troubles me most is Dean A. Hertzler II, your student trustee, failed to advocate on behalf of students. This, coupled with a complete lack of communication with the student body, makes one wonder exactly what student body he is representing?\nCommon sense tells us the more prudent approach would have been to phase the campus bus service in first, then add Bloomington Transit when the timing was right. But leave it up to the IU Board of Trustees to not allow common sense to get in their way.