Every weekend students of the University don their best bar-clothes and begin the walk to the bars and clubs of Bowling Green. For those students who are 21 or know one of the bouncers, the drinking continues throughout the night.
When the bars close, hundreds of drunk students wander down the sidewalks or, even worse, drive their friends home. The entire situation puts students, both intoxicated and sober, at risk of injury. The University does offer several forms of transportation for those students who don’t have a car. These services include: campus escort, 2-Ride and off-campus shuttle services. Despite the list of University-sponsored transportation, none of them will drive students back to campus from the bars.
Campus escort is considered a public safety organization. What better way to keep students safe than by keeping intoxicated students off the road and sidewalks? The campus escort runs Sunday through Friday, Dusk-6 a.m. and Saturday, 10 p.m.-6 a.m. This schedule encompasses the peak bar traffic hours. If campus escort is full, you could call 2-ride. That is, if they picked up students from the bar.
The operation hours for 2-ride are Monday through Friday, 3:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. and Saturday 3:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m, 7:00 p.m. through Sunday 8:00 a.m. Saturday is the only day 2-Ride could encompass the peak bar traffic hours, but it wouldn’t be a problem if the off-campus shuttle would pick up the slack.
The off-campus shuttle would be the most practical mode of transportation. All it would have to do is make a stop that is fairly close to the bars. Perhaps they could find a parking lot that is big enough for the bus to stop. It could even be a route that is only run on the weekends.
What is the problem with picking up students from the bars? We know these services are reserved for more important situations such as a person returning from work. This is fine. Although, it is as if the University thinks these services would promote drinking by offering their services to intoxicated students. This issue isn’t whether or not we should make it more convenient for students to get drunk. The issue here is safety.
Intoxicated people are unpredictable. This can be a dangerous situation when there are hundreds of unpredictable drunk students walking or driving back from the bars.
Can you imagine how much safer the streets and sidewalks would be if all three campus transportation systems made stops at the bars on the weekends?
