CTS bus riders hit with 60 percent fare increase

College and seminary administrators trade blame over miscommunication

by Christian Bell, Editor in Chief

Students who ride The Rapid city bus line to and from Calvin Theological Seminary received a surprise last fall when the 50 cent student discounted fare they were accustomed to paying was abruptly, and without warning, discontinued for CTS students.

“It was nice, because you could just throw two quarters in,” said M.Div. student Joel DeMoor, who frequently rides the #24 bus line to campus from his home in Alger Heights.

Last fall, administrators from the college met with Rapid officials and established a plan that required Calvin students to show a special college-issued bus pass to receive the discounted 50-cent fare. Officials at the college said the change was implemented to prevent misuse of the discounted fare. The policy went into effect on November 1.

Prior to the change, both college and seminary students were able to show their Calvin ID cards to Rapid bus drivers, who would in turn press a button to activate the discounted 50-cent fare. The regular Rapid fare is $1.30.

But according to college officials, that discount was supposed to be available only to students of the college, not the seminary.

“They [CTS students] were never legitimately enfranchised in the program, but somehow managed to take advantage of it anyway,” said Henry DeVries, vice president for administration, finance, and information services at Calvin College. “The college was subsidizing this with college tuition dollars and, to put it in the best possible sense, the CTS student were getting a ‘somewhat free’ ride.”

DeVries estimates that college spends about $12,500 per year to subsidize the bus fare. He also said administrators at the college were unaware that some CTS students were riding The Rapid using the discounted fare.

“We did not estimate that any CTS students were riding,” he said. “We had no way to anticipate that CTS students would be ‘stealing’ this service for which they had not paid and to which they were not entitled. Apparently, The Rapid drivers were convinced by someone that CTS IDs were legitimate to participate in this program, but they were never intended to be.”

Many CTS students, especially former students and alumni of the college, were unaware that they weren’t entitled to the discount.

“I was never informed that I was doing anything wrong in the first place,” De Moor said. “I didn’t know that that wasn’t available to all Calvin students. I sort of just assumed that the relationship between seminary and college was that tight.”

DeVries was asked whether characterizing CTS students’ use of the discount as “stealing” was fair, given that many students were unaware that the discount was not legitimate.

“I suppose interpretation of the word ‘stealing’ is a questions of semantics,” DeVries said. “Whether it was intentional or not may have some play here and maybe the CTS students were truly unaware that they were not entitled to use this service. Nonetheless, I don't recall that the college ever advertised that this extended to CTS students.”

When De Moor went to the college’s Campus Safety office to try to get a bus pass, he said he was told that seminarians were explicitly denied from obtaining one.

“I guess I wasn’t really aware that we were mooching off some program that college students were paying for,” said De Moor, “so it came as kind of a surprise to me when I went to the Campus Safety office and they said ‘No, there’s a sign on our computer here that says don’t give passes to seminarians.’”

Both CTS students and administrators at the college and seminary said that a lack of communication left students and administrators at both institutions in a state of confusion following the new policy.

De Moor said he first learned of the loss of the discount from other CTS students, who in turn had heard about it from Calvin College students. Several weeks later, notices were posted in the #6 and #24 buses informing riders of the impending requirement for the new bus passes.

Apart from the posted bus notifications, however, CTS students were never formally told about the changes.

“I became aware of this only when I received Joel De Moor’s e-mail during Christmas vacation,” DeVries said. “We had no knowledge that CTS students were participating, so no need for communication was foreseen.”

“They definitely let us raise the issue,” said De Moor. “I think the people they were aiming at were alumni who were mooching off the program and getting the discount still, rather than the seminarians, who were kind of just a casualty of war there.”

In response to the changes, De Moor talked to several CTS administrators, and was directed to DeVries as the contact person for the decision. De Moor then sent an e-mail to DeVries outlining his concerns and asking whether CTS students could still participate in the discounted fare somehow.

“I speak for about a dozen other seminary students who currently ride the Rapid twice each weekday,” De Moor wrote in an e-mail to DeVries. “When you count up the price hike for each of us over a year it really is quite substantial. I know several students who have already begun to seek less-stewardly, more-polluting means of transportation for this and other reasons.”

“I sympathize with you and your fellow seminary students who no longer have access to this program,” DeVries wrote back to De Moor. “Unfortunately, I need to be concerned about the use of college tuition dollars and to insure that they are spent appropriately.”

Rich Sytsma, dean of students at CTS, said he tried several avenues of compromise with the college.

“When the college announced the new Rapid discount card system last fall, we asked the college campus safety office if CTS students could apply for the card, and the answer was ‘no,’” Sytsma said. “I asked The Rapid officials if there was a possibility of CTS setting up an arrangement similar to the one Calvin College had set up. The response was ‘no.’ The Rapid officials said that if we could work out a deal with Calvin College in which the college would include our students in their program, we could provide our students with this opportunity to ride the bus for 50 cents. They said that without this arrangement with the college, the only discount options open to our students are the student 10-ride card for $8.00 and the 31 day pass for $35.00.”

Sytsma did say there has been some discussion about setting up a subsidy program for CTS student bus riders, in which the seminary would purchase the ten-ride cards at $8.00 and re-sell them to CTS students for $5.00.

Such a program would bring fares down to 80 cents per ride. The 30-cent increase from the previous 50-cent discounted rate would constitute a 60-percent increase in the cost of each fare, and the annual cost difference for the 80-cent fare to a student who regularly rides The Rapid is over $100 per year.

Some have argued there are not enough regular riders of The Rapid to justify CTS offering a subsidy, a point De Moor conceded may be valid.

“There’s probably 10 [students] that I’ve seen ride the bus with any sort of frequency,” De Moor said. “There’s not a ton.”

“I have broached this idea to a number of students and have received a mixed reaction,” Sytsma said. “Actually, there has been more negative response than positive response – primarily because the number of students involved is small and the level of savings is low.”

“From time to time we have reminded students of the option of using The Rapid to commute to CTS, but we have not made a push for this,” Sytsma added. “Several students who don't have cars have told me they prefer carpooling to riding the bus, because carpooling takes so much less time.”

According to Student Senate President David Prince, the CTS Student Senate has not received an official request to consider the matter.

De Moor’s ridership did go “slightly down,” as a result of the increased fare, although commuting requirements for he and his wife still necessitate his riding the bus on a routine basis.

“The 30 cents a ride does add up over a year, but it’s not unbearable,” he said.

Ultimately, said De Moor, the failure of CTS to provide a subsidy is disappointing.

“The parking lot is always packed, as you can tell, which says something,” said De Moor. “We’re not working with a huge group, but I still wanted to see if we could still get something [with a subsidy] going there. Even if it’s a handful of us; maybe include us under the Calvin plan as it was before, or as we understood it was before, though I guess it wasn’t.”

“I think so many seminarians do drive, or do live nearby that they walk. I don’t know how many would change. I’d like to be more optimistic.”

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