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Thursday, March 26, 2015

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News

3R, 3L routes coming back to Huskie Line Augustin Zehnder Staff writer

DeKalb | The HUSKIELINE will split the 4 route back into the 3R and 3L routes after complaints of overcrowding at a Tuesday focus group. Brett Williams, Student Association director of Mass Transit, opened the focus group by asking students what they found “annoying” about the HUSKIELINE as it is run. Williams said student input at the last focus group, held in February, led to the creation of the Barsema Express route, which connects the residence halls and the Holmes Student Center with Barsema Hall and the Music Building, among other stops. Williams said there was “a very good chance” Tuesday’s focus group could lead to the creation of similarly useful routes. The SA launched a revamp of the bus line and a series of focus groups

Feb. 8 to incorporate student input in creating routes and design and improving the bus tracking system. Students responded with complaints about overcrowding, long wait times at bus stops and the reliability of the HUSKIELINE’s bus tracking system. Several students said they were particularly concerned about overcrowding on Route 4 buses, which they said often means buses, filled to maximum capacity, must bypass crucial stops on the route. Other students expressed the desire for a bus that would service the downtown DeKalb area to benefit students and downtown business owners. SA Senator Robert Jusino, vice president for Mass Transit, said a downtown more easily accessible by students would fit well with NIU President Doug Baker’s goal of making NIU a communiversity, an

institution with close ties to residents and business owners. Buses on the 4 route tend to be overcrowded, Williams said, because of an earlier decision to merge the 3R and 3L routes into the 4 route. Williams said until there is a better solution, the 3R and 3L routes will be brought back. “It wasn’t a perfect system,” Williams said. “But it was better than what we have now.”

would simply circle the Sycamore Road shopping centers and Kishwaukee Hospital. Plans to create a “grocery bus” are also in the works, Williams said. “There are places on campus that don’t have direct access to a grocery store, like Greek Row and Varsity” Boulevard, Williams said. “This bus would stop at those places and go to shopping areas ... with fewer intermediate stops.”

7 route Williams said students taking the 7 route, which services Kishwaukee Hospital and the Sycamore Road shopping areas, have complained in the past about long wait times due to the route’s hour-long circuit. Williams said a possible solution would be to create a remote bus line. The line in question would not make any stops downtown or on campus, but

Bus tracking system The tracking system, though it was state of the art when put in, “over the years has decayed poorly,” Williams said. A new system has been chosen and Mass Transit is working out legal and contract issues; when implemented, the system will show, via an app, the location of all buses in real time as well as the time remaining until a particular bus arrives at a stop.

FOIA report Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act gives people the right to access public records. The Northern Star frequently uses Freedom of Information Act requests to aid in its reporting. The Star will print updates on what information its staff members have requested and will share results with readers in the newspaper and online. For more information about the law, go to bit.ly/1CquE9m. Emails What was requested: Emails between two NIU employees Information requested from: NIU When request was made: Feb. 27 Response: Editor in Chief Kelly Bauer was asked via email on March 2 to provide time frames

for the requested emails or the request would be immediately declared unduly burdensome. Bauer provided time frames. On March 9, Bauer received an email saying the response would be in by March 18. On Friday, Bauer asked for an update on the response and was told it would be in by today.

6 Bedroom, 5 Bathroom House for Fall

Payments What was requested: Personnel detail reports and contracts for an NIU employee Information requested from: NIU When request was made: Wednesday Response: Information was supplied on Tuesday

Contracts What was requested: All contracts with a company that has apparently partnered with NIU in the past Information requested from: NIU When request was made: Tuesday Response: None yet

Weather Weather provided by senior meteorology major Brian Mette. Go to NorthernStar.info/Weather/ for daily updates.

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