By Liesl Crowder
MADD reported that college drinking contributes to an estimated 1,70 student deaths, each year.
Anyone who lives in Morgantown has heard of the Drunk Bus, the Parking Authorities and the sluggish taxi service. Morgantown offers a lot of transportation during the days, but makes students think twice about how they are going to get home at night.
Many students have taken notice to the subpar transportation systems that Morgantown has to offer. Although the Bus is available, it does not travel to all areas of town.
“I don’t live in town. I do live close to it, but still not close enough to take a bus or even walk. This is another reason I have to end up driving myself,” explains Heather Hazucha, junior Pharmacy major.
The Drunk Bus is a bus that takes students on rounds between downtown and other places of town. The bus only runs through the Evansdale campus to the College Park Apartments area; leaving people who live by the stadium or in Westover in the dark. The bus also does not run all night; it stops at 3 am, even though the bars don’t close until 4 am.
“If someone wants to go out they can’t rely on the bus to get back because they stop running, so I end up driving after a long night of drinking,” states Hazucha.
The taxis take at least 45 minutes to arrive and if someone thinks about leaving their car downtown, the Morgantown Parking Authorities (MPA) will tow it with the snap of a finger.
Kellie Womack, a Senior Animal and Nutritional Sciences major, admits to drinking a driving because she simply does not want to get her car towed. Womack thinks that students should not be punished for making a smart decision instead of drinking and driving. “I mean, yes, I should have planned out my night a little better, but things happen.”
The MPA is not the only issue when it comes to public transportation. The taxi services that Morgantown has to offer leaves you left on the curb.
“The taxi service here is abysmal. On a given night, there are only six cabs servicing a town of about 30,000 people. The YellowCab office is rude and impatient,” states Andrea Frisk, 21.
Frisk and Womack both agree that if they have to wait for more than half an hour on a taxi, they will just drive their cars instead.
Some students wonder why there isn’t better transportation services offered in a college town that is based around drinking.
Frisk explains her thoughts on how to solve the problems. She thinks that the PRT’s should run 24/7 on Thursday’s through Sunday mornings; a topic which has been previously discussed. She also wonders why there is not more transportation to the stadium area.
“I live by the stadium and there is no means to getting home. I am stuck downtown,” states Womack.
Frisk and Womack are not the only one who wonder why transportation is not better. Jim Eakins, a Medical Physics major, proposes a solution to drunk driving.
“Why not make a student run organization? Like a taxi service for students, by students,” states Eakins. He believes that this will encourage safe driving and decrease drunk driving.
