76 Words Per Minute

Since I haven't had a chance to visit the alma mater for a while, I get to read up on it every now and then. Although there has been a pretty big sports story, which I'll discuss later, I felt that there was another story worth mentioning.

Although one would assume that many of the students in Palo Alto don't need public transportation, it's not uncommon for most students to need a convenient ride. Well, Stanford has become one of the first universities to try out the new CarShare program. Through this one example, it appears to be successful, and even looks like it may be a long-term success. They have a healthy rate of usage by students and others in the community, and have even been able to gain a surplus in funding. For one, I think it's a great idea, mostly because renting a car can be quite costly. The other matter is, even though Stanford is considered to be a bay area school, the stellar public transport that San Francisco enjoys does not extend that far south.

Having been carless for 3 years of school, I can remember what a chore it was, and how hard it was sometimes, to find a ride to buy supplies for classes, or even just to go downtown for dinner. Even worse is the feeling one can get for asking people for rides, and almost feeling like you're using them just for their car. Fortunately, I had some really good friends, always willing to help out someone in need. I wish they would extend the BART all the way down to San Jose and through the Silicon Valley area, and it looks like there could be a possibility of this in the future, but you never know how Bay Area politics will play through. Especially with Palo Alto citizens unwilling to devalue their property. Pfah.

However, CarShare looks like a valuable addition to the ways Stanford has been looking to improve public transit for its students. Grouped with the Marguerite and CalTrain students might actually be able to escape the bubble.