USG discusses transportation, election results

The Undergraduate Student Government Senate discussed campus transportation and the results of the USG spring elections during its Apr. 24 meeting.

Kim Jackson, director of Transportation & Parking Services,discussed some recent developments in campus transportation, including the on-demand bus service and the Zagster bike-share program.

“We are super sustainable at Princeton and hope that we continue to move in that direction,” Jackson explained.

According to Jackson, a smartphone app for bus reservation will become available this week. Student can use the app to call a bus to a certain location on campus at any given time. The app asks the students for the number of people in the party.

Jackson explained that the app will show users their anticipated wait time and give a notification when the bus arrives.

“That should be seamless,” Jackson said, noting that cancelling or changing reservations on the app will be very convenient.

In addition, Jackson noted that the Zagster bike-share program will continue to expand over the summer. Jackson, along with several USG members, is looking at locations that would be most useful for students.

“I knew it would be successful, I did not know it would be as successful as it is,” Jackson said. “We will be adding over the summer to increase the number of bikes and the number of stations.”

Jackson added that there is now a full-time employee for the program to move the bikes as quickly as possible to ensure that there are enough bikes at each location at any given time.

Additionally, Jackson noted a decline in the number of registered cars on campus. Over the past five years, fewer and fewer students have been registering their cars for legitimate reasons, Jackson said. Currently, there are approximately 330 students who have registered their cars on campus, she added.

Aleksandra Czulak '17, USG president,noted that there were no run-off elections during this cycle and that the two referenda did not meet the participation threshold for a vote.

Jeremy Burton '18, vice president of USG, reportedthe election results, which were announced last Friday through an email sent to the student body. Heexplained that both voter turnout and the number of candidates applying for a position decreased this year.

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He explained that a referendum has to have support from a third of the student body to be put to a vote.

According to Burton, about 1,600 students voted for the divestment referendum sponsored by SPEAR, while about 1,200 voted for the Honor Committee referendum submitted by Justin Ziegler ’16.

“I think we should consider lowering the threshold, since the total voter turnout is less than one-third,” Class of 2019 senator Andrew Ma ’19 said, further noting that if a student did not want the referendum to pass, they would simply choose not to vote.

Naimah Hakim ’16, U-Councilor, noted that she was concerned that students were unable to vote as voting closed at noon.

Students may have more time to vote during the evening, she added.