Wildcat Transit Has New Ideas

UNH students, faculty and staff may soon want to hop on the bus: a recent proposition by UNH Transportation Services could bring big changes to Wildcat Transit as early as October of this year.

If an application for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding is approved, then UNH and Durham residents will enjoy a new route to Rochester, NH as well as three new low floor transit buses which will run entirely on natural gas or biodiesel. And that’s not even all that UNH Transportation Services has in store.

“The plan is to get COAST to feed into our stop in Rochester,” said Dirk Timmons, Director of UNH Transportation, at a public meeting about their plans last week. The future stop, which is expected to be located at the parking lot across from Lowe’s in Rochester, would be the size of the lot C parking lot at UNH. It would be built through state funds.

COAST, The Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation, currently services the seacoast region of New Hampshire as well as Berwick, Maine. Wildcat transit already has links with COAST in Dover, Portsmouth and Newmarket and hopes to expand to Rochester as well.

“The service will expand transit linkages,” said Timmons in a public statement. It will also be the first Wildcat Transit route that is designed to bring students and employees to campus by 7 a.m.

The new route will offer students and Durham residents more options for shopping as well. One of the stops will be placed at the new Lee Market Basket Plaza. “[T]his additional route may help stimulate the economy by servicing nearby retailers and providing students with additional shopping options,” said Timmons in his statement.

The run from Durham to Rochester will also provide undergraduate and graduate students with new opportunities for cost-effective rental units. “We are open to adding stops as well if new housing units are built,” said Manager Beverly Cray.

“I would definitely consider living in Barrington or Rochester if it were cheaper,” said sophomore Stephanie Perkins, who currently lives in an off-campus apartment in Durham now. “I could save so much money,” said Perkins.

In addition to providing more options, the bus route may help many residents and student save money. Students, faculty and staff will still be able to ride for free as long as they present an ID card. Other Durham and local residents will be able to ride for a low cash fare. “We offer one of the most cost-effective transit services in New Hampshire,” said Timmons in his statement.

Another benefit of the expansion is that the connection will help decrease traffic and thus improve air quality along NH 125 and US4. The buses, which are largely run on biodiesel or natural gas, greatly reduce carbon emissions. “We are one of the cleanest transit fleets in New England,” said Timmons.

Being clean is important when you are also the largest transit fleet in New Hampshire. Ridership in 2009 exceeded 1.1 million passenger trips and has been increasing by 5% each year. In other words, 4.4 million vehicle miles were removed through Wildcat Transit, reducing carbon emission by over 21,200 tons.

If UNH Transportation Service’s request for CMAQ funds is approved, then three new, large buses will be added to the fleet. The buses, which are clean and fully ADA accessible offering audible stop announcements, bike racks and low floors, and are run on clean ultra-low sulfur B20 biodiesel or CNG. These buses will cost approximately $444,000 each, but by replacing these vehicles cost per mile expenditures will drop by $2.05 per mile. This correlates to a savings of $78,365 per year.

However in order for all of this to pass, UNH Transportation Service’s request for CMAQ funding must be selected from a large number of applicants and approved. The Rochester Bus Association, Rochester City Council and town of Durham, among others, have all offered their support via letters to CMAQ. “It helps to have five letters of support,” said Timmons.

UNH Transportation will hear in May whether or not their application will be accepted. UNH Transportation Services encourages local support and suggests writing to the state CMAQ Committee members. “I think the Rochester route has a very good chance of being the number one selected,” said Timmons.

UNH Students Save on Spring Break

Imagine your father moving clear across the country in order to get a better paying job. Now picture finding out that you cannot visit him during spring break because neither of you can afford the five hundred dollar plane tickets.

This is the case for Anna Normandeau, a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, during this upcoming spring break. Normandeau’s family, like many other families throughout the United States, has been hit hard by the failing economy.

Like others, her father lost his job this past year and had to relocate in order to find work.

“It’s just frustrating how expensive everything is,” said Normandeau, “I can’t even visit him and now I don’t have any spring break plans.”

Normandeau is not alone in her frustrations. Many University of New Hampshire students faced similar dilemmas this year upon deciding what to do during their spring vacations.

Colleen Warburton, a freshman, hoped to travel with her sorority to Panama City, Florida, but quickly realized it would be too expensive. “I’m staying with my cousins in Arizona. I’m only visiting for four days, so that’ll make it cheaper,” said Warburton.

Part of the problem preventing students from taking vacations this year is the price of travel. While hotels and travel agencies offer discounts, airline rates have remained relatively stable.

Travel agent Karen Dawson of Horizon-University Travel in Durham, NH says that she has seen a decline in the number of vacations this year. “Although some airlines like Southwest offer deals, unless you’re a frequent flyer and have built up points, flying can be very expensive,” said Dawson.

“Add some kids and the tickets add up fast,” said Dawson.

Dawson explained that many hotels are offering special deals to try to encourage people to take vacations. “A lot of hotels will offer a third or fourth night free as an incentive,” said Dawson.

Despite the incentives, many college students decided to opt out of hotels this spring break, instead trying to bunk with friends or family. For instance, sophomore Brianne Creedon plans to stay with her grandparents in Florida during spring break.

“If I couldn’t stay at their condo I wouldn’t be able to afford to visit,” said Creedon, who will be gone for seven days.

Florida, says Dawson, is one of the most popular spring break spots among college students this year. Cities such as Miami, Panama City, and Key West are popular vacation spots.

“[The most popular spot] used to be Cancun,” said Dawson, “But now that traveling out of the country has become more of a financial burden, people seem to prefer staying within the U.S.”

Senior Leah Reed is one UNH student who chose to visit Florida instead of Mexico. “My friends and I looked up rates and found a really great hotel in Florida near Jacksonville,” said Reed.

“We’re going to have a road trip and drive down to Florida,” said Reed. Reeds hopes that traveling by car and sharing the cost of gas will help her save money.
Another benefit of road trips is that students can chose to make whatever stops they want along the way.

“We’re planning on stopping in a couple states to visit friends as we go,” said Reed. “It’s nice to be able to work it around our own schedule.”

Although many students seem to have plans, not everyone is traveling this spring break. "I've seen fewer students come in this year," said Dawson.

This is likely because a lot of UNH students plan to either relax at home during the vacation or work at local jobs.

Junior Nicole Labbe, who works at Kohl’s in Manchester, NH, says she hopes to work during break. “I’ll probably pick up two or three shifts,” said Labbe, “I could use the hours.”

Although working isn’t exactly a vacation, many UNH students seem to be glad to have jobs to return to.

Andrea Mitchell, a sophomore, plans to work as much as possible during break. “I called my manager and asked to work every day,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell said that saving money for her is essential. Mitchell has to pay for much of her schooling along with books and spending money. “I feel like I’m always broke,” said Mitchell.

Normandeau, who now has no plans as she cannot afford to visit her father, agrees that working is the best idea for this spring break. “At least I can babysit and make some money while I’m home,” said Normandeau.

Wet, Windy Winds Create Wasteland

Thursday’s sudden storm brought about more than dangerous, heavy winds to Durham, NH: over 50 trees were completely knocked over and uprooted, causing damage to cars and buildings but no people, according to the UNH Grounds and Events Manager.

The storm, which was the result of cold air from Canada mixed with warm air from the southern United States, created a strong low pressure system. This Noreaster came from the coast and produced winds gusts near 68 mph in nearby Portsmouth, NH.

Mary Stampone, of the Department of Geography at UNH, explained that although winds of 68 mph were not the average during the storm, the winds were still high enough to cause severe damage to trees.

“I would be shocked if it didn’t get close to setting a record,” said Stampone of the winds.

Thomas Byron, the UNH Grounds and Events Manager, explained that mostly pines and some hardwoods fell Thursday night and into Friday morning. Falling limbs hit parked cards, causing damage to some vehicles, and even hit the honors dorm, Hubbard Hall.

Although the dorm building was hit, only a window was broken. No other damage or injuries to students occured.

Erika Mantz, director of Media Relations at UNH, explained that UNH decided to delay their opening at 4 a.m. Friday morning. Five hours later, however, the school decided to curtail operations for the entire day.

“Power came back on sometime Friday afternoon,” said Mantz. Despite the return of power, damage throughout campus and the continued lack of power in surrounding towns made normal daily functions impossible.

Meanwhile, the Dimond Library, survived its own share of damage over the weekend. A water damage break flooded the building Friday night. The library, which was closed all weekend, may require a more expensive fix than anything charged by removing trees, explained Mantz.

Although no students were injured in the storm, UNH Maintenance workers were forced to work extra hours starting from 2:30 a.m. until early Friday morning.

Unitil Utility Company, a local power company, explained that while this storm was damaging, the 2008 ice storm hit the area harder. They surmise that everyone should be restored to power within the next day. Unitil, which provides power to many in southern NH, has been participating in specialized training since the 2008 storm.

The local hospitals were unavailable for comment on the storm, but were aware of many calls to the fire department reporting fallen trees and powerlines.