Letter: Using South Lot shuttle unnecessary; try walking

Editor,

In Tuesday's issue of the Daily Lobo, Lucia Fronterotta took issue with UNM's decision to close Zia Lot and Parking and Transportation Services' justification for doing so. In objecting to the decision, Fronterotta alluded to several common misconceptions about UNM's shuttle system.

In response to UNM's justification for closing Zia Lot, Fronterotta argued, "Closing Zia Lot will not help improve gas prices," and, "The problem isn't gas prices." This is a profound misunderstanding about how the shuttle operates. The shuttle system is composed of several multiton vehicles that run all day and likely get less than five miles per gallon of fuel. Oil prices have increased about 150 percent in the past three years; the cost of operating the shuttle system has similarly increased. Parking and Transportation Services has no choice than to cut something back, because the cost of operating this system is becoming untenable.

Fronterotta objected to the "agony" that students go through in using the shuttle, comparing the experience to being herded like cattle. I couldn't agree more. It seems like an aggravating, unpleasant and humiliating experience. Thus, I'm puzzled by the fact that students like Fronterotta insist on using the shuttle at all. South Lot is exactly four-fifths of a mile from UNM. The slowest of walkers could make that trip in less than 20 minutes. Yet students treat the privilege of being herded like cattle, fighting with others for seats and stressing out about being late for class as some kind of necessity.

Add the fact that these shuttles are loud, astronomically expensive and toxic to our air, and perhaps you can see my confusion over Fronterotta's objections and commuters' insistence on avoiding the most minor dose of exercise in favor of the most inane waste of money and natural resources I've seen at UNM.

I beg Fronterotta and other commuters to try walking instead of riding the shuttle. Your bodies will feel better, you'll be less stressed, and you might even get to class quicker.

Josh Tybur

UNM student