Why is this such an issue with students? Are some that spoiled? Do you think students at NYU expect door to door transportation for everything they do, 24/7? (Yes, NYC has a fantastic mass transit system, but they still need to walk a few blocks to the subway and often change trains to get where they are going. And, it costs money. And, guess what, they don’t demand a door-to-door SafeRides service, even if that means someone gets mugged walking around Washington Square Park. It’s a city. Stuff happens.) In real life, people take busses to metro all the time. Why is that such a big hassle? It does not add two hours to game day (as referenced in the Hoya article this blog links to). Everything costs money. There is always a trade-off. It’s a zero-sum game. More money for GUTS means less money for something else. Students often say they came to Washington DC for “all it has to offer.” It’s unclear at what point in the enrollment decision process anyone promised that it would be free and fast to GET TO everything DC has to offer.

So, it turns out NYU does have SafeRides. But, I still think expectations are too high here.

FC: I did not get the impression from Angert or Meaney that they are pursuing additional bus routes at an additional cost in order to provide game day transportation to the Verizon Center. As I say in the post, their current intention is to reroute buses the University already has under contract.

I really think this survey was poorly designed. It asked people whether this was a good idea. It didn’t ask how much people cared. Would direct routes to the Verizon center be nice? Sure. But there are a gazillion and a half other things that are more important. They should have asked something like: we have x dollars to spend, and y hours of labor. what is the most important goal to accomplish with those resources? a,b, or c? When we get questions like “should we do x?” it leads to people like Fact Checker complaining Gtown students are wussies, which on the surface seems an entirely valid assumption to make, and if students really were adamant about this change, would be right. But I suspect the great deal of people who responded to the survey checked yes because there was no downside or opportunity cost presented.

And I find it completely unbelievable that they would be able to run a route that’s much longer, downtown, in an area that’s much more congested, with loading points much more crowded, at the same cost as it takes to get across the key bridge. It’s simply not possible.

Fact-checker:
An interesting point you raise, but I will counter it with something rather obvious – just how hard Georgetown (the area, and then also the University) tries to keep itself out of D.C. and keep it’s prissy “yes we all have cars of our own and will pay for valet parking wherever we go” thing happening. So we car-less college students are gonna have to be bused somewhere; either 15m to Rosslyn where they funnel us onto metro cars (which they give us passes to, remember), or make that a 25m bus ride and take us right there.
re: NYC/U – There’s no real part of Manhattan that’s more than three blocks from an MTA stop, especially NYU where there are about thirty different lines that stop right there. There’s just a greater sense of being ‘part of’ NYC when you’re on NYU’s campus, as opposed to the self-imposed removal from all that stuff that isn’t rich NW here at GU.

Your post ignores several other ways to get to the game:
1) Take the G2 or D2 Metrobuses, which run way more frequently than Dupont GUTS buses on Saturdays, to Dupont Circle, tehn take the red line.
2) Take the Circulator downtown.
3) Take the D1, D3, or D6 Metrobuses downtown.
4) Ride your bike.

In 07, I paid $100 for game tickets AND metro tickets. In 09, I pay $125 for just the game tickets (and some email tickets about games I don’t want to go to), but NO metro tickets.

That is why we should have a say as to whether there should be direct transport to Verizon.

@fact checker -
I dont think NYU could fill a single GUTS bus with fans going to NYU ‘Violets’ games. Although their recent win over Elmira College drew 473 total fans, so I guess its possible.

I think this is a great idea. Id be all for GUSA sponsored tailgates too @ McDonough before big home games. If people are worried about the cost, they could sell tickets – even raise some money for charities too.

I’m confused why people (or person, more likely) are rubbishing this idea.

It sounds like Calen and Jason are accomplishing the GUTS Bus re-route without compromising weekday service (when people need to get to their jobs / internships / whatever). Instead, weekend service is being shifted around slightly to accommodate a direct link to the Verizon Center. And from the survey given, it looks overwhelmingly favorable that students support it.

I’m sure students could take the G2 or the D2 to the DuPont, then change for the Redline, then walk to the Verizon Center, or ride their bike — but the fact is that students want a direct route. Hell, given the level of attention, it’s insane we don’t have games here at Georgetown (instead, we build a field for a football team that could charitably be called a ‘toss-up’ if ranked against a 7th-grade pee-wee all-girls team from Korea).

[...] Matt stood up for direct routes to the Verizon Center with a dig at our football team: “I’m sure students could take the G2 or the D2 to the DuPont, then change for the Redline, then walk to the Verizon Center, or ride their bike — but the fact is that students want a direct route. Hell, given the level of attention, it’s insane we don’t have games here at Georgetown (instead, we build a field for a football team that could charitably be called a ‘toss-up’ if ranked against a 7th-grade pee-wee all-girls team from Korea).” [...]

There’s no additional cost by the way

How? And even if so, that would seem to indicate we’re overpaying our current routes to Rosslyn