Samantha Garza | Staff Writer
Student government has developed a new shuttle service to help transport students from Waco to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for special holidays.
Waco sophomore Aidon Butler said shuttle tickets will cost $20 each, with a total capacity of 110 seats and a limit of three bags per person. It will be stopping at every terminal in the airport.
“We’re just trying to make it more convenient for everybody, and it’s something that is a lot more cost-effective,” Butler said.
Butler said as of Nov. 7, student government has a shuttle scheduled to depart from campus on Dec. 14 and return to campus on Jan. 14.
According to a student government press release, on Dec. 14, the shuttle will meet students outside of the Bill Daniel Student Center. It will begin to board at 7:30 a.m. and take off at 8 a.m. to ensure arrival by 10 a.m.
“At the end of the break, the shuttle will meet at DFW airport on Jan. 14th, 2023 and boarding will begin at 7:30 PM,” the press release reads. “The shuttle plans on leaving the airport at 8:00 PM with an arrival time to Baylor University at 10 PM.”
The Woodlands junior and external vice president Nick Madincea said one of the biggest issues among out-of-state and international students is airport transportation.
“Right now, people are taking $150 Ubers to the airport, and I think that that’s just way too much money,” Madincea said.
After crunching some numbers, Madincea said the student body would be saving around $14,000 total if they were to take the shuttle service instead of Ubers.
The student government executive branch budget will be paying for 100% of the expenses to rent the shuttle service, according to Madincea.
“This is going to save the Baylor community a ton of money in the aggregate,” Madincea said. “The way that students are getting to the airport right now is very dangerous and incredibly unaffordable, so I think that this is really going to solve a lot of headaches for the community.”
Madincea said the idea to create the shuttle service stemmed from a time when one of his friends asked him to pick them up from the airport. He said he ended up staying hours in Fort Worth waiting for his friend and didn’t get back to Waco until 2 a.m.
After deciding it was neither safe nor convenient for students to be traveling back and forth from the airport, Madincea said he started talking to other Bears who had experienced similar problems and brainstormed a way to fix them.
Dallas freshman Madi Cano said the shuttle service is a great addition, especially after seeing some of her international friends struggle with transportation to the airport.
“Our job is to help them find an affordable way to get to the airport,” Cano said.
Students will be able to purchase a shuttle ticket on student government’s website as soon as they are available.
