Sophomore Dabne Cuellar uses public transportation to enjoy local coffee shops, volunteer at Evanston schools, and spend time with her friends. Her main source of transportation is the 201 CTA bus, which is heavily relied on in the Northwestern community.
The bus travels from Howard Street to Old Orchard Mall from Monday through Saturday. In 2015, Northwestern started a partnership with the Chicago Transit Authority, which allowed students, faculty and staff to ride the 201 bus for free with a valid university ID. This later changed to a free university-issued Ventra card program. In August, the University announced it would be discontinuing this free program.
Cullear remembers how she felt when she found out.
DABNE CUELLAR: I was just, like, actually in shock. And then I go to the QuestBridge
GroupMe and I’m just like, “Oh, wait, they actually did it.”
Northwestern’s Office of Global Marketing & Communications denied my request for an interview. They did however, send this statement on behalf of the University:
Quote: “The Intercampus shuttle provides free rides to students, staff and faculty with many stops in downtown Evanston and along Chicago Avenue and Sheridan Road, including Ryan Field where many community members park. In addition, the Evanston Loop and Campus Loop have been combined into one new route that flows in both directions, including on weekends, to make it easier to get from place to place — with more frequent stops.” End quote.
Some Northwestern students feel as though the University shuttle system is not enough. One of those students is senior philosophy major Asiah Florczak.
ASIAH FLORCZAK: Quite often the Intercampus is full or near capacity, and they just have to drive by people. They’re not on time. Their delays are like 40 or 50 minutes in the morning. The 201 was reliable, the Intercampus isn’t.
DC: The Intercampus is there, but everyone knows how late it always is, how packed it is and like sometimes they don’t even let you on from how packed it is. So I would just take the 201 — at least I knew I had the other option of 201.
Students are questioning not only the reliability of the University shuttle but also the distance it travels. According to Northwestern’s Office of Student Affairs’ website, “The Evanston Loop operates between the Evanston campus and Downtown Evanston” and “The Campus Loop connects the northern and southern ends of campus.” These routes do not reach many areas of Evanston and neighboring communities that students frequently visit.
One of the most pressing concerns comes from students who volunteer in Evanston community schools through programs such as Books and Breakfast, which offers a nutritious breakfast and homework help to kindergarten through fifth grade students. This volunteer program currently serves over 200 kids in the seven Evanston elementary schools. Cuellar is one of those students who volunteers.
DC: I did volunteer with Books and Breakfast. I did take the bus to that elementary school. And so I did that once a week from February until the end of May. So I definitely used it a lot and I thought it was very necessary to help me get around. I can’t do the Books and Breakfast volunteering program anymore because it’s 5 dollars each week and that would definitely add up. And as a college student, I just don’t think I can put that in my budget to spend 5 dollars individually each week to be able to volunteer. I do feel bad about leaving them but also I can’t really take on that cost myself.
For some students, not having free access to the 201 bus is also a safety concern.
AF: I think especially right now, as it gets dark early, it’ll start to affect my life because
there’s an increased population of, I’d say, aggressive homeless people near Target. And I
walk by there because my apartment is near there. And not being able to have public
transportation that takes me near my apartment for a reasonable price or for free — it’s kind
of a little scary sometimes walking home.
For others, it simply means not being able to explore the marvels of Evanston and Chicago.
DC: “It definitely kinda feels suffocating. I feel like it kinda tries to keep you in a bubble. Especially since, like, yeah, I can take the ‘L’, but also, again, that’s 5 dollars each time to go to and forth. So the 201, since it was free, it definitely helped expand the bubble of where I could go.
Also included in the University’s statement was the following reasoning for why free access to the 201 bus was removed:
Quote: “As we assessed transportation options for this year, Northwestern, along with its transportation vendor, WeDriveU, found that it needed to allocate funds from previous transportation offerings towards enhancements in other Northwestern transportation related programs that provide the most impactful support for our entire community.” End quote.
While the University may be saving money with this change, students fear they may be losing
money.
DC: I think who it will mostly impact is the FGLI [first-generation, lower-income] community, especially since a lot of them use that bus to get around because our bus system isn’t very reliable. So I think it’ll mostly impact that community on campus, especially since that’ll be a harder cost on them. And, compared to the other students who do have the money to take the bus, even then, they might not want to pay for that anyway. So, I mean, it could be impacting everyone.
For some students, this is a direct reflection of how the University feels about its community.
AF: “This is something that we need and that we want back. I think it just reflects that they don’t care about us. And I think that that in itself is a very negative thing for the Northwestern community. It genuinely does feel like they don’t value us as students or as staff or as faculty when they disregard our comfort, they disregard our transportation, they disregard our ability to arrive safely to campus.
Northwestern’s CTA 201 Ventra card program ended on June 30, 2024. It will not return for the 2024-2025 academic year.
For WNUR News, I’m Jessica Watts.
