Program ‘off and on’ since 1989
USC is bringing back shuttle buses to transport students to and from Five Points this weekend.
Student Body President Chase Mizzell and university President Harris Pastides have been in conversations with the university’s transportation office since the Oct. 13 shooting of first-year business student Martha Childress. Shuttles to and from the popular entertainment district were one of the suggestions on “Martha’s List,” which presented five steps Childress and her family thought would combat violence and increase safety.
“It will provide students with a convenient way and a safe way to get home at night,” Mizzell said.
It’s not clear yet what role the shuttles will play relative to Carolina Cab, Student Government’s popular free taxi program for students living within five miles of Five Points. Its ridership increased by 1,000 between September 2012 and September 2013. The shuttles and Carolina Cab could work in tandem, Mizzell said.
“This indicates that students are interested in a convenient and free and safe ride home,” Mizzell said. “The shuttles may be a potential solution to serve that demand.”
But a Five Points shuttle is nothing new. The shuttles have run “off and on since 1989,” Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Pruitt said.
“We’ve got to figure out how to get that done in a way that the students are likely to use it,” Pruitt said.
Thad Moore contributed reporting