• About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break
      Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break
    • Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus
      Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus
    • Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali
      Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
      Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?
    • The block system is a joke
      The block system is a joke
    • Spineless nonpartisanship: how the Girl Scouts convinced me they no longer care about girls
      Spineless nonpartisanship: how the Girl Scouts convinced me they no longer care about girls
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Music Performance Courses Adapt to an Altered Semester
      Music Performance Courses Adapt to an Altered Semester
    • Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of “Rebecca” fails to deliver compared to its classic counterpart
      Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of “Rebecca” fails to deliver compared to its classic counterpart
    • “Dash & Lily” Find Love, Stranded
      “Dash & Lily” Find Love, Stranded
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
  • Health and Wellness
    • No image
      Athletic impacts of Covid-19
    • No image
      A new kind of PE
    • No image
      Maintaining wellness as the cold sets in
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • Miscellanea
    • No image
      Remote students experience existential crises; change class years in email signatures
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
      Your next on-campus romance isn’t going to work out
    • The Artichoke
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Emily Williams News, News and FeaturesOctober 2, 2015

Exchange Bus modifies several stop locations

The Peter Pan bus unloading and awaiting passengers at the chapel stop.

Several changes have been made to Senate and Exchange bus operations this semester. The 77 Mass. Avenue stop has been moved to 84 Mass. Ave. and the stop on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Commonwealth Avenue has been moved to 45 Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street. Additionally, bus drivers will only accept tokens, individual tickets or punch passes for bus fare and will no longer accept cash. The Exchange Bus will still be free and the Senate Bus fare remains $3.

The MBTA station at Mass. Ave. and Commonwealth Ave. where the bus used to stop was moved forward by the city to Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street. The corner at Mass. Ave. and Comm. Ave is now a bike lane and the bus cannot legally stop there. Last semester, the bus attempted to continue stopping in this space but Boston police were ticketing drivers for moving violations.

The bus now stops at the MBTA station in front of Marlboro Market on 45 Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street. The bus cannot legally park and wait for students at this stop and students must be ready and waiting at the curb. Marlboro Market will sell individual Senate Bus tickets.

The 77 Mass. Ave stop was moved to 84 Mass. Ave. after the city of Cambridge moved the old bus stop. The Senate and Exchange stops are now at the curb before the light and crosswalk. Students must also be ready at the curb be- cause the bus cannot legally park in this area.

“Changing our stops is always challenging as students are so familiar and used to them. We try to avoid making these changes at any cost but sometimes our hands are forced. That truly was the case this time,” Peter Eastment, director of the department of faculty housing and transportation said.

Photo courtesy of Wellesley College Media Relations Department

Photo courtesy of Wellesley College Media Relations Department

Freeman Senator Soobean Jo ’19 raised concerns on behalf of her constituents at Senate. Her constituents were frustrated with the lack of communication between transportation services and Wellesley students.

“[The changes to] the bus stops were not relayed to students in any manner, other than to those who were on the bus on the first day of the change,” Jo said. “Since then, it has been unclear as to where the new bus stops are, if some stops have been taken out, and the times of those stops.”

Julia Chmyz ’17 was also displeased with the lack of communication.

“They should have told us they were changing [the stops] before they started instituting the changes,” Chmyz said. In addition to the stop changes, bus drivers are no longer accepting cash for bus fare.

“When we publish the start of fall semester transportation schedule, it includes a reminder that all students need to present a token, ticket or punch pass as they board our buses,” Eastment said. While drivers have always technically been allowed to accept only tokens, individual tickets or punch passes, in the past they have allowed students to pay with cash in order to be accommodating.

“They do not want to turn the student away but allowing them to board at no charge creates issues with others in line who are presenting tickets, tokens or punch passes,” Eastment said.

Tokens are available in two machines on campus at the Lulu Campus Center and Stone Davis, and punch passes are sold at the Wellesley College Bookstore and the Leaky Beaker. Individual tickets are sold at Out of Town News in Harvard Square, LaVerde’s Market at the MIT Campus Center and the Marlboro Market.

Jo’s constituents were displeased with the stricter token policy.

“Obtaining tokens can oftentimes be a hassle, as students have to trek all the way to Lulu or to Stone Davis. Accepting cash would be easier and more convenient for students taking buses,” Jo said. After raising this concern at Senate, Jo was informed that accepting cash presents a liability issue for the driver, and she recognizes that there are limited options for changing this policy

Chmyz does not think the new policy is unreasonable, but says that the transportation department needs to make sure students can obtain tokens if the policy remains this strict.

“I think the policy makes sense. The token machine’s right there. But there ought to be some way of communicating when the token machines are broken, and the token machines should not be broken also,” Chmyz said.

The token machine in Stone-Davis is currently out of order and being repaired, meaning students can only obtain tokens at the Campus Center.

Due to multiple complaints regarding communication between the transportation department and the student body, the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) will be meeting with Senate members to discuss how to fix these problems.

Photo by Bianca Pichamuthu ’16, Photography Editor

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleWellesley College receives ratings on College Scorecard
Next articleNew org helps students after leaves of absence

You may also like

Four Cases of COVID-19 Reported During Winter Break

Students With Medically Restricted Diets Struggle to Eat On Campus

Students attending the puja ceremony

Students find new ways to celebrate Diwali

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top