Chloe Coffield, staff writer

On Aug. 3, the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) teamed up with the City of Rome Transit to implement a public bus from downtown Rome  to run what was formally known as the ‘Ashland Park’ route through Berry College at ten past the start of every hour, beginning at 6:10 a.m. and running until 6:10 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Formally known around Rome as the Orange Route, the bus will now pick students up at the Krannert Post Office and take them to a multitude of locations around the city, including the mall, the DMV, Food Lion, Braves Boulevard, Chick-fil-A on Riverside Parkway, the Library, and Ridgebury Park.

According to the Rome Transit Director Courtnay Griffin, this new system opens up many more options for students at Berry, transit wise.

“Over the last year, we’ve been really looking at how to make sure that our transit system is making the most impact in our community and making sure that transportation to those who need it is accessible,” Griffin said. “We went through a transit study and one of the things we did is that we reworked the route that was going past Berry to make Berry a regular stop.”

Berry has both a grocery shuttle and on-campus transportation already set in stone, but the arrival of this off campus bus route is something new altogether. In years past, this particular bus was only permitted on campus by special request of the college, only allowing those who knew about the bus  to take advantage of this resource.

President of the Student Government Association (SGA) Kaylin Rezek, said this new route is a great opportunity for students to get out of Berry and explore the city of Rome.

“I think it will encourage people to get out of the ‘Berry Bubble’,” Rezek said. “I know for me, it’s been very easy to be like ‘That’s it. This is my home and I never want to leave.’ It’s the biggest college campus in the world, why would you want to leave? I think the route is a friendly reminder that will help students create those connections.”

An issue for students who want to travel off campus, is not having the means of transportation to do so. Not only will this added route allow students to gather necessities, but also for students’ enjoyment as well. Rezek said she believes public transportation at Berry will improve student life.

“I think the biggest thing is it gives an opportunity for students to be connected with the outside of Berry,” Rezek said. “We’re in the ‘Berry Bubble’ all the time, so I think it allows students to explore downtown Rome very easily, but also go to a bunch of places that would be harder to access.”

Another major issue for students is money. As college students, it is a lot harder to come up with the funds to support these kinds of outings, considering gas money, parking fees and other miscellaneous costs, but this new transit method has made it easy. According to Griffin, the fare is a lot more feasible than many would assume. 

“Student fare is only 75 cents,” Griffin said. “That is one way and includes a transfer. The transfer is free so you don’t have to pay again as long as you are on the same trip. You get off the bus and go do whatever you wanna do and when you get back on again, it’s 75 cents.”

Griffin said the transit department has an app, the Rome Transit Department mobile app, in order to pay with card if a person does not carry cash.

Rezek presented an idea about how SGA might be able to take away the cost altogether. 

“I kind of assumed that people would be a little frustrated with having to pay,” Rezek said. “I would love to have a little jar outside of our office that’s full of quarters collected for students. I would love to see that from us and I’m happy to spend our money on that.”

Griffin said she is excited for the new route to gain traction at Berry. “I think that it has been a great partnership because as we became more visible, the interest grew within the Berry community,” Griffin said. “I think it will develop into more access for those who didn’t know that that option was available.”