Campus without a car

Students are returning so campus and downtown Athens will soon be full to bursting. One great thing students, faculty and staff can do to relieve congestion in the area is to leave your car at home. Flagpole provides a great primer on ways you can do just that:

Campus Transit buses are free for anyone to use, and they stop at every stop on the route. You  can hop on and hop off at any stop. There’s more space out than in, so just remember to step back and let people get out of the bus first, and take your backpack off if it’s crowded.

Athens Transit buses are free for anyone with a valid UGA ID card, which riders swipe at the farebox when entering at the front of the bus. UGA Transportation and Parking Services uses the student transportation fee to pay the county a discounted fare per swipe. County buses do not automatically stop at every stop on the route, so you have to pull the stop request cord that runs along the windows.

The UGA Mobile App has extremely useful transit maps and bus trackers that work with both the Campus and ACC Transit systems. Use it to find stops near you, which routes go where, and how soon the next bus will arrive. Bus stops are also visible on Google Maps, thanks to a project by the 2015 LEAD Athens civic leadership class. Both systems have maps and bus tracking available on their respective web sites, as well: transit.uga.edu and athensclarkecounty.com/transit.

County buses have had bike racks on the front of them for years, but starting this semester UGA buses will have them too. This allows people with bikes to have much more flexible transportation options and cover a broader range. The bike racks are easy to use but may be intimidating the first time. Luckily, they are the same as the ones used by Transit Authority of River City (Louisville, KY), which produced an awesome video about them.

A lot of important information to keep you safe and healthy, and there's more at the link. Welcome back, everyone. Let's make it great year (to walk/bike/take the bus).

Image: Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA