By Vic Cox

During the rain storms earlier this month a group of students, who had arrived on Amtrak at the Goleta station in the middle of a downpour, were pleasantly surprised when a van with the UCSB logo pulled up and offered them a free ride to campus.

Luckily for them, Transportation and Parking Services (T&PS) had inaugurated a shuttle service between the station and UCSB on Jan. 3 and was meeting four trains a day, five days a week.

“We’re probably averaging between four to five passengers (a trip),” estimated Glenn Devlin, scheduling coordinator for not only the new shuttle but for T&PS’s entire transportation section. He can be reached at (805) 450-4993 (trains only) or x2924.

While storm damage has temporarily shut down shuttle service, it will resume meeting trains once Union Pacific repairs washed out tracks in the tri-county area.

The shuttle is but one of several new or improved services to entice students, staff, and faculty out of single-occupant cars and into the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), according to Tom Roberts, T&PS director.

These member benefits are in addition to subsidized vanpools and carpools; 57 hours of free parking each quarter; in-vehicle parking meters; and monthly chances at gift certificates, he points out.

A new Metropolitan Transit District bus pass for faculty and staff is scheduled to be announced in late February that—unlike the unlimited rides conferred by existing student passes—permits employees to ride only to and from their workplace. As a way to introduce the service, a 10-ride complimentary pass will be issued to each faculty and staff member who requests one.

Of particular interest to employees living in the Santa Ynez Valley is a TAP subsidy for MTD’s new Valley Express. When the commuter bus route between Solvang and Goleta/Santa Barbara activates on March 1, TAP members will receive a contribution of $1.25 each way, reducing their $4 bus fares to $2.75 each way.

Once on campus, TAP members may need to get somewhere off campus during the workday, say to a doctor’s appointment. A carshare program is being established to meet this occasional need. By using a special site on the Internet, one of three Toyota Prius hybrids can be reserved “from one minute to one year in advance,” depending on availability, said Roberts.

“One of the biggest obstacles to people leaving their cars at home is their fear of needing to get off campus during the day for an errand and being able to do so,” explained Roberts. “Carshare solves this.”`

While other parts of the TAP overhaul are also close to fruition, Roberts emphasizes that these services do not draw from parking funds. “Costs are covered from revenues generated from parking citations” and user fees, he said.