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Accommodations to be made for campus transportation

January 28, 2022
<p>A bus driver&#x27;s seat and monitors on a Cata bus on Jan. 29, 2020.</p>

A bus driver's seat and monitors on a Cata bus on Jan. 29, 2020.

Photo by Alyte Katilius | The State News

Since the CATA service reductions were extended to March 6, accommodations will be made for students needing transportation on campus.

According to MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen, CATA will provide "tripper" buses on campus. The buses do not have designated routes but will fill in as needed.

CATA's Public Information Director Lolo Robison said in the Michigan State Spartans Parents Group on Facebook that these buses will arrive next week following primarily high-capacity routes.

Trippers will pick up riders left behind due to full buses and will operate between the 30-minute frequencies. Robison said supervisors will remain on campus to monitor ridership and more details are pending.

"Granted, this is not a perfect solution compared to full service, and not all routes will be assigned a tripper," Robison said in the Facebook post. "Additionally, there may be days when lack of man/womanpower altogether precludes tripper deployment. Your continued patience is sincerely appreciated."

Olsen also said the university is extending its complimentary parking in single and multi-space pay stations for next week. This only applies to the metered and pay-by-plate locations, not the permit-only or faculty/staff parking locations.

"We'll reevaluate CATA service operations after that week to determine if we need to take additional measures," Olsen said.

Students have raised concerns about transporting to in-person classes due to the CATA service reductions. Olsen said the university continues to communicate with faculty about these issues and he encourages students to reach out to their faculty with accommodation requests.

"Throughout the pandemic, the university has continued to encourage faculty to extend grace and empathy toward students and their colleagues that they work with," Olsen said. "That's continuing. We've had some really remarkable stories about faculty really going above and beyond to help students because we all recognize this is an incredibly difficult long two years in the pandemic."

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