Students already weary of dining hall fare will have an easier way to expand their culinary options this Sunday, when the Yale College Council will run a free shuttle looping from various points on campus to Shaw’s Supermarket on Whalley Avenue from noon to 4 p.m.
Sunday’s shuttle will be a trial run and, if popular enough, may become a regular offering. It will make 30-minute runs from campus to Shaw’s and back, picking up students in four locations: Payne-Whitney Gymnasium, Lanman-Wright Hall, the intersection of York Street and Broadway, and the intersection of College and Wall streets. The shuttle will be subsidized jointly by Shaw’s and Yale’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs.
The YCC first launched the shuttle during the fall 2003 strike of locals 34 and 35, when dining halls were shut down and students had to fend for themselves during the first weeks of the school year. But when the strike ended, the shuttle was discontinued. YCC President Steven Syverud ’06 said he hopes the new shuttle will be permanent.
“We originally thought it would be on a trial basis,” Syverud said, “The Office of New Haven and State Affairs and Shaw’s were more excited about it than we expected, so we’ll probably be doing it more than once.”
The YCC will solicit feedback from students after Sunday’s trial run, said YCC Secretary Kasdin Miller ’07, who helped to organize the shuttle trip.
“We’re going to try to survey the students who ride it to see if the stops are convenient and if the times are convenient, to improve the shuttle next time,” Miller said.
Connie Bowen ’08, who is living in Swing Space this year, where all rooms contain kitchens, said the shuttle is a worthwhile venture.
“We do have to do grocery shopping so we can use our kitchens,” Bowen said. “We always just bring backpacks and pack everything back with us, so it’s sort of a burden.”
But Reed Abrahamson ’08 said he would probably not use the shuttle.
“I never have a need to go, and if I did I’d just walk,” said Abrahamson, who lives in Saybrook. “I think we should all be able to walk two blocks by now.”
The YCC is also considering providing a shuttle to and from IKEA, which is located in the Long Wharf area, a roughly 30-minute walk from campus.