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Volume 126 Issue 64
kansan.com
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
4
the student voice since 1904
TRANSPORTATION
HITCHHIKING MADE SAFE
Proposed Lawrence OnBoard program could give free travel options to residents without cars
Hitchhikers in Lawrence may not have to worry about whom they're getting a ride from with Lawrence OnBoard's new proposed transportation program.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
MEGHAN KETCHAM news@kansan.com
On the way home from a cold lottery morning at Allen Fieldhouse freshmen Erin Gartland, Kelley Ebeling and two others were trying to find a parking spot by GSP when a woman knocked on their window, asking for a ride. The girls were hesitant at first, but the woman was cold and seemed desperate, so they unlocked the door.
"She was really nice," Gartland said. "She was talking about how she 'would have died in the cold' if we didn't take her home."
After a short ride to Sixth and Iowa Streets, the girls dropped the woman off. In the wintry January weather, the woman seemed relieved.
While hitchhiking seems to be an unusual situation, it may become more common for students and other Lawrence citizens to find a ride in the near future.
potential riders are members of Lawrence OnBoard and are safe to let inside of the vehicle. Drivers enrolled in the pro-
Research and development continues for Lawrence OnBoard, a hitchhiking network envisioned to help Lawrence residents access the city without owning a car. Completing 121 test drives in 2013, the rideshare program's research is finding success.
Currently, city commissioners are looking into revising a traffic ordinance that prohibits citizens from standing on or next to a street or highway to solicit a ride. If the ordinance changes, Lawrence OnBoard
Jennifer O'Brien, Director of Lawrence OnBoard, has been researching how to make hitchhiking safe for Lawrence citizens since the spring of 2012. Living 12 miles north of Lawrence, O'Brien found the personal need for transportation to Lawrence.
"I needed an alternative to driving in my car all the time," O'Brien said. "People who live in rural areas and don't have access to a bus are really in trouble because they don't have any alternatives."
will be able to move forward in development and implementation.
In addition to ride-sharing services such as SafeRide and KU on Wheels, O'Brien said that the Lawrence OnBoard will have a positive impact on students. Many students come to campus without a car, and Lawrence OnBoard will provide another option to get students where they need to go.
to IDs and have background checks. For the safety of the drivers, riders are given an official Lawrence OnBoard dry
"I think it could be very impactful for KU students to expand the places they can go and live, and not be dependent on a car."
"I think it could be very impactful for KU students to expand the places they can go and live, and not be dependent on a car," O'Brien said.
JENNIFER O'BRIEN,
Director of Lawrence OnBoard
The safety of both riders and drivers is an important feature to Lawrence OnBoard. Eileen Horn, Sustainability Coordinator for Douglas County and the City of Lawrence, said the city is working with Lawrence OnBoard to help citizens trust the program.
erase board with a destination written on it, and must hold it up when waiting near the road. This will notify drivers that the
Lawrence OnBoard is a membership-based program. Riders and drivers must provide pho-
gram will have a Lawrence On-Board sign in their windows to show riders which cars are members. All participants will
be given a membership handbook as well.
This program should allow drivers who are already going to the same destination to pick up riders, and give them a complimentary ride. There is no charge to ride, and the hope for Lawrence OnBoard is to build a community of trust and good neighbors.
Once there is trust, many can take advantage of the program and even have a positive impact to the environment.
"The more people that carpool and get comfortable with ridesharing will have a positive
environmental impact by reducing those emissions." Horn said. "We can reduce traffic, reduce emissions and provide an alternate transportation means for people to get around town."
Although the program is gaining traction, O'Brien urges citizens not to attempt hitchhiking until Lawrence On-Board is fully developed. It is still in its research phases, and is not completely safe for riders and drivers yet.
For more information about Lawrence OnBoard, visit LawrenceOnBoard.org
Edited by Cara Winkley
CAMPUS
KBOR approves on-campus housing proposal
DARCEY ALTSCHWAGER news@kansan.com
The Kansas Board of Regents approved a proposed $17.5 million apartment building to be built for the Kansas men's and women's basketball teams and non-athletes. The Board voted 8-1 in favor of the project on Jan. 15.
The location of the $17.5 million project is just south of Allen Fieldhouse. Construction will begin in early 2015.
The construction on the two-story 49,500-square-foot building will tentatively begin March or April 2015 and will be located near Allen Fieldhouse in the parking lot north of Oliver Hall.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said the proposed project came from a collaboration between the athletics department and the University in order to benefit the basketball program.
"Kansas for decades has had one of the premiere basketball programs in the country, and we want to do everything we can to keep it that way," Marchiony said. "We are competing against universities who are doing everything in their power to knock us off that perch and we believe that it's important to athletics and to the University to maintain our standing as one of the elite basketball
programs in the country."
The need for this new apartment building also comes from the popularity of living in the Jayhawker towers.
"Jayhawker towers currently has a waiting list so that shows there is demand for on campus apartment living," said Jack Martin, director of strategic communications for the University.
"We want to be able to offer students and student athletes living arrangements that are attractive..."
GOOGLE MAPS
Director of Strategic Communication
Sixty-six students will reside in the Fieldhouse apartments building. It will house 32 men's and women's basketball players and 34 non-athletes who have at least 30 credit hours. Marchiony said that according to NCAA rules, student athletes are not to reside in a dorm by themselves and may not account for more than 50 percent of the students that live in the dorm.
"We want to be able to offer students and student athletes living arrangements that are attractive and help with recruitment and we have this opportunity here to create a building the would meet that need," Martin said.
Funding for the $17.5 million project will come from private donors. The students that will pay rent to reside in the apartments will pay off any bonds that were issued for the construction. The amount of funds received will ultimately affect the timeline as to when construction can begin. According to a document issued to the Kansas Board of Regents with a breakdown of costs, the University anticipates $7 million to $7.5 million will come from private funding for the first phase of the project and "the housing rates charged to residents will reflect a premium of 20 to 25 percent over the rates set for Jayhawker towers apartments to reflect the amenities that the new apartments will have."
Dividing the $17.5 million price tag among the 66 students that will reside in the apartments reflects a cost of about $265,000 per student, but the building will be used
Marchiony said he has received very little feedback about this proposed project, but the feedback he has received has been positive. He is unsure if the men's and women's basketball players have been informed about this new
for more than one year. The cost of construction for the apartments is estimated at $180 per square foot, which is the same estimate for the two new residence halls that will be built to replace McCollum Hall. The commons area and basement have a higher persquare-foot cost, which drives up the overall price as well as
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 5
CRYPTOQUIPS 5
OPINION 4
other miscellaneous items such as relocating parking spaces for Oliver Hall residents.
Freshman women's basketball player Caelynn Manning-Allen was not aware of the plans for the new apartment building but was happy to learn about the decision.
"I feel like that is a great opportunity for the basketball team," Manning-Allen said.
project.
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 5
Don't Forget
On Wednesdays, we wear pink.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
Edited by Stella Lianp
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