Getting around shouldn’t be a barrier to student success. But for many at Principia College, especially those without cars, a lack of reliable, flexible transportation makes daily life far more difficult than it should be.
Principia offers a strong foundation of Christian values, a liberal arts education, and a globally diverse community, all reasons many choose to come here. But these strengths are undermined when something as basic as getting to a store, job, or off-campus event becomes a constant struggle. If we want every student to thrive, transportation can’t be an afterthought.
As a senior who has spent the past three years on Principia’s scenic but isolated campus, I’ve seen firsthand how limited transit options can disrupt students’ access to basic resources. While the college does offer weekend shuttle services, they’re not enough to meet the needs of our diverse student body.
Take, for example, members of the Ugandan student community, a group I proudly belong to. Many of us work late night shifts on Saturdays or serve in essential campus roles like housekeeping or Flex Crew on Sunday mornings. As a result, the Sunday morning shuttle is often inaccessible to us. And we’re not alone. Plenty of students, regardless of background, find that the limited shuttle schedule conflicts with their academic, work, or extracurricular commitments.
In these situations, students turn to peers who own cars — a favor that can quickly turn into an expensive necessity. I’ve had to cover the cost of an entire gas tank just for one round-trip grocery run. That’s the high price of convenience.
The Principia mobile app, widely known as the “Prin App,” reveals just how pressing this issue is. A quick search for the word “ride” shows several posts from students and community members looking for transportation. It’s a clear indication of an unmet need.
There are ways to address this. While traditional ride-share services like Uber and Lyft are impractical in our area, Principia could develop its own on-campus ride-share program. With a pool of licensed student drivers, many of whom would be happy to work for standard campus wages, the college could offer a more flexible and affordable transportation system.
This program wouldn’t need to start with brand-new vehicles or costly overhead. Students who own cars could be contracted to offer rides at a fixed rate per trip. Alternatively, the college could allocate existing vehicles for this service, only needing to cover fuel and basic maintenance.
There may be concerns about costs. But this doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. In the short term, even increasing the number of weekly shuttle runs, for example, expanding to three days a week with two trips each day , would offer much-needed flexibility to students with varying schedules.
Principia is not alone in facing this challenge. Several colleges in remote or rural areas have developed creative solutions to support student mobility. Dartmouth College, for instance, located in the remote town of Hanover, New Hampshire, operates a network of fare-free shuttles, some running daily and serving both on- and off-campus routes with flexible schedules. According to Dartmouth Transportation Services, the college also partners with Advance Transit, the main public transportation provider for parts of southeastern Vermont and western New Hampshire, to offer free bus service throughout Hanover and nearby towns.
Other schools in rural settings, such as Cornell, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Appalachian State, have implemented a variety of creative systems to meet student transportation needs. At Cornell, for example, the university offers a fleet vehicle leasing service on campus, providing rental and leasing options for students, according to the university’s Facilities and Campus Services website. Bowdoin College operates a campus shuttle seven days a week during the academic term, as noted on its Office of Safety and Security website.
Many of these colleges operate rideshare matching programs that connect students with similar schedules for carpooling, often offering perks like preferred parking and guaranteed emergency rides home. Some colleges are even exploring shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs), self-driving shuttles designed to reduce labor costs and ease traffic congestion, as reported in a 2022 article in the International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology.
While the specifics vary from school to school, the message is consistent: reliable transportation is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. As a college that prides itself on community and support, Principia should develop its own multifaceted transportation strategy, one that ensures every student has dependable access to the resources they need, regardless of the campus’s location.