In April, students voted on a referendum that will determine the fate of Queens College’s shuttle bus system.
In the shuttle bus student fee reallocation referendum, students voted on whether the shuttle bus fee should be reallocated to fund other student services such as athletics, Student Association (the student government), club budgets, and student-led events.
The shuttle bus service is completely funded by every student, who each pay a $40 shuttle bus fee as a part of their student activity fee every semester. The underutilization of the shuttle bus by students and disputes over service quality and reliability with the contracted company has prompted the campus to search for other options.
If passed, the referendum aims to maximize the effectiveness of the shuttle bus fee by relocating its funding towards more universally-utilized student resources.
In a message about the referendum emailed to the QC community on April 17th, William Barron, president of Student Association, expanded upon which specific services the reallocated shuttle bus fee would go towards.
“These include expanded gym facility hours, additional funding for clubs and organizations to enhance programming and opportunities, improved services for students with disabilities, and establishing a dedicated programming board to organize year-round events for our student body. Additionally, we seek to continue funding for Orientation/Welcome Day activities to ensure a warm welcome for new members of our community,”said Barron.
Over the span of multiple semesters the reliability and overall quality of the shuttle bus service has faltered leading to its under utilization by students. Most of these challenges can be traced to MV Transportation, the company contracted to provide the campus with the QC shuttle bus service.
In the Academic Senate meeting on Nov. 9, 2023, Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sean Pierce spoke about said company.
“What’s interesting is again, the company that we work with, they are supposed to have a bus tracker, but some have reason they tend to forget to turn it on. And so these are all things that our financial affairs folks have been really going after them about and trying to hold them accountable. We get last minute emails that have buses broken down,” said Pierce. “And unfortunately, it has become unreliable. And so the majority of our students aren’t using it. And so it’s a waste of student fees.”
In the meeting, Pierce echoed that while the campus would be finalizing the semester with the company, they have also identified the need to explore different options. While the school was searching for different options, the shuttle bus was running at a deficit and the campus struggled to find a contractor that would be able to provide the campus with a shuttle bus service without raising the cost of the student activity fee.
To help shape the decision making process, Student Association — in cooperation with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness — emailed a survey out to students in December of 2023 to aggravate data on the needs of students.
It was likely the results from this survey that shaped SA’s decision to move forward with the referendum process.
“After extensive evaluation and consideration, it has become evident that raising the shuttle bus fees through a referendum would not be feasible or sustainable. Many of our fellow students are already facing financial challenges, and burdening them with additional fees would only exacerbate their struggles,” said Barron.
Student Association was able to successfully gather the 1500 signatures it needed to add the referendum to the general election ballot, the results of which have yet to be released.
No matter the outcome, the decision that the QC student body made in this referendum will have major implications for the future of student life and the student activity fee.
