Now, I don’t know about you, but in order to get to school I take the bus. Which means that I’m either extremely early or slightly late to class! I’m in school for 23 hours a week.

Let’s face it: I’m going to a technical school on financial aid; I can’t afford to pay for parking. So I use the free bus pass provided at enrollment with six or more college-level credits at MATC.

I take MCTS’s Green Line to State Street, and then hoof it the rest of the way to campus. Walking with a 60-pound backpack, usually in what feels like 900-degree heat, with the sun so bright I can actually feel my skin shriek and cower.

So you might be asking why don’t I just get off at Juneau and hop the 33? Two words: connection time!

As most of you surely know, the connection times between bus routes are usually a very generous 35 seconds. Honestly, I just don’t feel like watching the bus pass me by as I wait for the light to turn so that I can cross the street – or even before I ever get off the bus. That does happen, a lot!

So I walk.

Sometimes alone and other times with a small group of students – legs pumping, head down, backs stooped. I like to think of us as CrossFit Schleppers; maybe someday I can finally get back down to my pre-insulin weight.

Why don’t I just drive my tank of a car?  Parking!

At the Milwaukee Downtown campus, even with the extremely generous Student Parking Pass that the campus provides (see the Cashier’s office for more information), the student/faculty population vastly outweighs the number of available parking spots in the general vicinity of campus.

There are other lots scattered around downtown, which on a good day results in a trek from Upper Slobbovia; there is a shuttle that makes the rounds of these lots near campus.

None of this factors into the very real possibility of being able to take classes at other campuses. The only way to get to the Mequon, Oak Creek or West Allis campuses if you don’t have a car is the bus, which takes a lot of time. It can take over an hour to simply go in one direction. In some cases it’s necessary to take more than one bus.

If you’re anything like me, the option of doing schoolwork on a moving bus, while highly tempting, is just not an option (motion sickness? Hi, ‘lo, no). I actually chose to take a class online because I didn’t have the means to make it to the Mequon campus with my work schedule. It was an awesome class; I wish I could have attended it “In Real Life.”

What would it take for us to get a full-fledged shuttle system like the ones provided at Marquette and UW-Milwaukee, and is such an idea even feasible?