THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY, AUGUST 13. 2007
NEWS
5A
TRANSPORTATION
SafeBus offers late-night rides
BY ERIN SOMMER esommer@kansan.com
SafeBus, the University's new late-night bus system, will make its first trip Friday and Saturday. The Parking Department introduced SafeBus in compliance with a referendum passed by students this past spring.
SateBus will operate Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The free service is available to any student who shows a KUID upon entering the bus.
"The basic goal is to reduce the amount of student traffic on weekend nights," said Tom Cox, Shawnee senior and member of Student Senate's transportation board.
Cox said that in addition to providing a safe ride home, SafeBus also provided a way for students who didn't have cars to go out on weekend nights.
SafeBus features three bus routes, which were designed to go to places that are heavily populated by students, Jessica Mortinger, Hays senior and student intern for the Parking Department, said. This includes all on-campus residence halls and many of the off-campus apartment complexes that KU on Wheels services on its daytime routes. The bus also runs downtown.
Cox said that two buses will operate on each of the three routes.
This past spring, students voted to raise student fees by $4 this year to introduce the service.
Video cameras are placed inside the buses for security reasons, Mortinger said. She said that KU Parking and Transit also was looking into putting physical security on the buses.
"The intention is to get some security on the bus," Mortinger said.
Mortinger said that although SafeBus allows students to ride home safely, it does raise safety concerns. She said that policies held by SafeRide, the University's late-night car program, allowed drivers to make sure students were taken home.
"With this we can't really say where people go," Mortinger said. "I think that's one of our biggest concerns."
SafeBus will not replace Satekue, which operates between three and 10 cars every night of the week, but Mortinger said KU Parking and Transit is hoping that SafeBus will relieve some of the SafeRide congestion on the weekends.
Hannah Love, Dodge City senior and student body president, said student reaction to SafeBus was positive.
and she knew of students looking forward to using the service.
Mandy Puhak, Overland Park junior, said she thought the service would be used by students.
Edited by Trevan McGee
"It's a really good way to know that you're going to get home safely," Puhak said.
Mortinger said SafeBus would allow students to have a guaranteed
ride home.
"The option was to expand (SafeRide) or to have a fixed ride service that allows students to know they have a ride."
For a complete schedule of each of the SafeBus routes, go to www.kuonwheelsku.edu/safebus.html.
CRIME
Police charge man, teen with student murders
BY JEFFREY GOLD Associated Pres
NEWARK, N.J. — A 15-year-old boy and a man were in custody and facing murder charges Thursday in the execution-style killings of three college students and wounding of another in a schoolyard shooting.
The teenager was arrested Wednesday night, and the 28-year-old surrendered Thursday, authorities said.
"We believe that others were involved in this heinous crime," prosecutor Paula Dow said. "We're looking for them."
Mayor Cory A. Booker said fingerprint and ballistics evidence tied the man, Jose Carranza, to the crime. Carranza turned himself in on three counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges.
The teen, whose name was not released because of his age, was arrested on the same charges, authorities said.
Booker said Carranza's lawyer, Felix Lopez Montalvo, called Booker's office saying Carranza wanted to surrender directly to the mayor.
The four friends, ages 18 to 20, were attacked while talking outside an elementary school Saturday night. Authorities have said robbery appeared to be the motive.
Three of the victims — Terrance Aerial, 18, Dashon Harvey, 20; and Iofemi Hightower, 20 — were forced to kneel against a wall and were shot at close range. The fourth, 19-year-old Natasha Aerial, Terrance Aerial's sister, survived a wound to her head and is hospitalized.
Despite being under sedation for periods of time, Natasha
Aeriel has been providing authorities with information about the shootings, the mayor said.
Residents and law enforcement organizations have donated $150,000 to aid the victims' families and to fund a reward for information leading authorities to the killers.
A friend of the victims, Samantha Williams, said she was overwhelmed by news of an arrest.