COG, communities investigate bus service to NE Campus
by Diana De Leon, Feature Editor

   The NE Campus faculty senate is working to get commercial bus service to the campus and then to the train station.

   A Trinity Rail Express station is a mere mile away from the NE Campus, but riders currently cannot hop on a bus to get to campus.

    "The faculty senate is a liaison between the faculty and the administration," Debra Galliher, chair of the faculty senate, said.

   Efforts to get bus service started in 2000 and faculty response have been great, Galliher said.

   At the beginning of the semester, the NE senate sent a survey to faculty, and 135 members responded with overwhelming numbers in favor of bus service to the NE Campus.

   A small percentage of faculty indicated they would ride the bus daily with a larger percentage riding occasionally.

   "Few would ride, but they do want bus service here," she said.

    The T currently does not serve the north area of Tarrant County, which includes Hurst and North Richland Hills where the campus lies.

   Larry Cunningham, city manager of North Richland Hills, said a federal grant has been approved for transportation development in North Tarrant County.

   "The plan targets employees of large companies in the area," he said. "Our plan does include a stop at TCC NE Campus."

   Kimberly Clark, HEB Hospital, hotels in Bedford and manufacturing companies in Haltom City are among the businesses that the bus service would include, Cunningham said.

   "It [the proposed bus service] is to provide job access to major business with employees of 100 or more," he said.

   According to Cunningham, bus service would go from the TRE to job sites with the possibility of other locations.

   Dr. Larry Darlage, NE Campus president, said he knows Texans love their vehicles but believes that bus service to NE is a good idea.

   "I think bus service to NE Campus would be great, a fantastic idea," he said.

   The North Central Texas Council of Governments (COG) is working on a two-phase implementation plan with interested cities, including North Richland Hills, Michelle Bloomer, senior COG transportation planner, said.

   "We are calling this the North East Tarrant County Job Access Project," she said.

   Bloomer said the plan calls for a modified shuttle service from the TRE to the job site rather than a regular bus route.

   The two-phase plan will begin in April with the City of Arlington.

   Phase two will include North Richland Hills and will start sometime after kinks have been worked out of the phase-one program, Bloomer said.

   "We are working with each city to determine where the need is," she said.

   Bloomer said COG will discuss needs in North Richland Hills with the city manager and others to determine which employers in the area would benefit from this program.

   Galliher said TCC employees would not be the only ones to benefit from bus service to NE Campus.

   "There is a cultural aspect to this plan," she said. "Where the bus goes, there is a more culturally diverse student population."