Trolleys aid the disabled but pollute the campus

POINT

Lucretia M. Brown Staff Writer

There is at least one trolley on the University of West Florida campus. Students, faculty, staff and visitors ride the trolley every day. Usually there are more student passengers than anything else.

I am one of the many students who frequently ride the trolleys. Each trolley operator has proven himself or herself helpful.

The trolley stops at or near most buildings on campus, therefore it is easy for students, especially students with disabilities, to get to their classes or dorm rooms quickly. The trolleys are also worthwhile when it is cold or raining outside. On an average day, when the weather is warm or fair, it seems like there are not as many people on the trolley as there is when the weather is nasty.

There are several students who ride the trolley regularly. The trolley operators know many of the regular passengers by name. I have discovered that patrons are happier, or just more content, when they are called by their first name.

Of course, nobody can make everyone happy all the time. The trolleys and their operators are no exception. I have seen students get upset because the trolley does not stop at a certain location. The trolleys, it appears to me, stop at the most common places, like the dorms.

This is good because most of the time, when I need to be somewhere at a certain time, I can count on the trolley to get me there, and I do not have to walk.

As a disabled student, the trolleys have benefited me greatly. Some of the operators even walk me to the door of the building to which I am going.

Like the city bus, there is a handle next to each seat that passengers can pull, which sets off a buzzer to let the operator know where his or her stop is. For me, all I have to do is tell the trolley operator where I want to stop, and the operator will let me know when we have arrived.

I do not know what I would do if UWF did not have the trolley service. When I ride the trolley, I maintain a piece of my independence. Without this service, I would have to walk everywhere on campus, and sometimes it is hard to get help when I do not know my way around the University.

I think if the trolleys were ever discontinued, there would be several students who would be quite lost on campus.

COUNTERPOINT

Elise McWilliams Opinions Editor

I’d like to express a different perspective on the trolley system.

Many students I have talked to think that it may be better if they weren’t here at all. It is no surprise that as UWF builds more buildings on top of parking lots that less parking is available.

Now many people who live in the village apartments on campus ride the trolleys because they no longer receive commuter-parking decals.

So, yes, naturally there are more people riding the trolleys now than last school year. But, are the trolleys efficient and more beneficial for the campus than not? Many don’t think so. UWF is not a large campus in comparison with University of Florida or Florida State University.

Our buildings are not spread out over vast amounts of property, even though we have it to spare. A student can easily cross campus from any building within 10 minutes.

The trolleys here also run on diesel fuel. It is a little ironic that our school sits on one of the largest nature preserves in the state of Florida, yet UWF has taken very few steps to become eco-friendly.

We could easily utilize biodiesel fuel to reduce this pollution. The trolleys are a good resource for our disabled students, but what if there was a better one?

Golf carts are in constant use on campus. They could pick up students and cart them from place to place.

Golf carts also use less gas, if any, and it could be on an individual basis. It is not possible, however, to get on a trolley at Pace Hall and be dropped off at the gym within the 15-minute break between classes.

And, they are hardly ever on time at a trolley stops anyways. If UWF got rid of the trolleys, it could spend the money on keeping the Student Access Information Lab open 24 hours or funding more scholarships.

All in all, there are better uses for the money spent on the trolleys that are hardly ever used.