SGA introduces Publix shuttle for housing students

Guethshina Altena/Staff Writer

Sunday, Feb 21 at 3 p.m. a new shuttle will be running for the first time to take students from the housing buildings to the Publix plaza.

The stops will be University Apartment (Building A), Lakeview Hall, Parkview Hall, Everglades Hall, Panther Hall, University towers and Publix Supermarket at 107 avenue once a week for three hours.

The vice president of student government, Juan Glices, a senior international relations major said, “The approximated cost of this shuttle was $2,400 for the remaining of the semester.”

All FIU students will have access to the shuttle and will be able to use it as long as they have the FIU One Card with them.

“We proposed a pilot program for the remaining of the semester, we want to see how many students use it by the beginning of May,” Glices said.

According to Glices, “When we get the report of how many students use the service, we will decide whether we should expand it to twice a week or three times a week.”

The program is available for all students, but it especially targets residents who do not have a car to transport their groceries, especially International students. According to Glices, every year a few students get hit when crossing the streets across the school.

“As the vice president, I worked on the executive side of this project. After the legislative board proposed the idea, I got my team together and created an actual plan to make the project successful.”

The shuttle is sponsored by FIU Business Services and will run every ten minutes from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

“I am very satisfied with the project so far and I consider this to be our baby stops,” he said.

“In the future, I look forward to the project becoming bigger when the stops expands to location around the city like the Dolphin Mall, Downtown Miami and so on.”

Gilces said that since the program use the student’s activities and fees, he plans that this service will be and will stay free of charge for all students.

“On Sundays, from 3 to 6p.m., I encourage students to mark their calendar and make it a habit to do their grocery shopping using the shuttle, plus the plaza across campus have a lot more stores than just Publix.”

Jose Sirven, the president of the Residential Hall Association is a sophomore international relations major who worked closely with the members of SGA on the Shuttle program.

“When I heard the proposition from SGA, I was very pleased and thought it was a really good idea because it was something that I have been really pushing for since I was elected,” he said.  “It was a money issue, so I am glad that SGA was able to pay for it.”

Sirven is an active advocate for resident’s need and works every day to make their life easier.

He said, “I pushed for extended dining hours a little more and we were able to get that.”

He also said that he is very glad that student government is listening to students need and coming up with accommodations for them.

“I look forward to the expansion of the shuttle, when it will take students to other store farther away like Walmart and Target,” he said. “My goal is to listen to the to the students more in the future and help as much as I can to improve the campus experience.”

Sirven also added, “I am hoping to implement free laundry because I think students pay way too much to wash their clothes and I would like to expand the food pantry and work harder to promote it.”

Joe Paulick, the Director of Housing was very proud and excited about the new program that brought about the shuttle for students.

He said, “Although I didn’t play a specific role in making it happen, I am glad that I was able to help with the marketing, promoting it on campus to students and on social media.”

According to Paulick, the shuttle service is a student initiative and Parking and Transportation helps organize the shuttle as well.

“We do have a larger international students population and this service is great for them, but I also think that any student, whether they have a car or not, can take advantage of it,” he said.

Paulick thinks that the service is great and that students should definitely use it since they are already paying for it with their student fees. Plus parking can be a challenge in the plaza, but with the shuttle, they will not have to worry about that.

Housing is constantly working to improve the life of students on campus.

Paulick said, “We parented with HBO GO to give access to our residents and we’re are working on new landscaping for the quad and this summer, our major projects will be making renovations to University Towers for about eight weeks.”   

Department of Housing and transportation, RHA and SGA united together to bring this new service for all students. It will start on this Sunday Feb. 21 for the first time and will run weekly until the end of the semester. If interested in finding more information, contact SGA.

[image from Flickr]

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