The "Toomer's Ten" Late Night Lines of the Tiger Transit system have made a splash among the student body. The buses transport students to and from campus in roughly 30-minute intervals, starting at 10 p.m. and ending at 2:30 a.m.
Unlike prior evening transits, these are more akin to their daily counterparts, traveling to apartment complexes and other areas off campus.
"The night transit was really successful the first weekend," said SGA President Jacob Watkins. "There were over 1,000 riders, and there will be even more as we continue to update PR."
The introduction of this new conveyance is in part an answer to concerns about safety issues for students on campus, both on and off the road.
"The [previous] night shuttle existed to transport students from parking lots to on-campus locations, but there were so few buses and so many people that some would be waiting around in parking lots in the middle of the night," Watkins said. "Off-campus students had no way to be transported to the library or downtown if they didn't have a car, so this was an issue the SGA needed to address. Most other SEC schools like Georgia, Ole Miss and Alabama, already had these systems in place, so Auburn was definitely behind the times."
The buses' seven lines, each of which originate adjacent to SkyBar on Magnolia Avenue and extend off campus to such locations as Creekside, Copper Beech, The Exchange and Lem Morrison Drive. Although the schedules are posted on the AU Web site and in Tigermail updates, some think they could be clearer.
"I haven't used the night transit yet, partly because I didn't know what nights it ran," said Sarah Gibby, a first-year pharmacy student. "They need to be more clear on where and when it picks people up, maybe by putting up signs like they do for the day transits. I do think that it will keep people from drunk driving though, and that makes it worthwhile."
Not having to use one's car is another major advantage of utilizing this new system. Corey Crow, a sophomore in international business, knows driving from his house off of Opelika Road can be a pain.
"It'll be great to be able to get to campus without worrying about parking," Crow said. "I'll save a lot of gas money on the weekends.
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