Temple has come up with a few different ways to ensure students are making it to, from and around campus each day effectively and safely. However, they are revolutionizing the way they have previously laid out the transportation services here at the university by providing a two-way shuttle service that can take students to and retrieve them from their residences around main campus here in North Philadelphia.
Flight, the new shuttle service initiated on Monday, March 14 of this year, will be replacing TUr Door and the Owl Loop, which took student to their house from main campus and travelled around main campus making stops at designated locations respectively.
According to Temple’s website, any student, faculty or staff member with a valid Temple University identification would be able to use this shuttle service that operates from 5:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. seven nights a week throughout the academic year.
The boundaries of Flight span from 20th between Cumberland and Girard Streets and 5th and 20th Streets. This ensures those with proper identification with a ride as long as either the starting or ending location is a residential address.
An article by the Temple News states the pickup and drop-off locations are as follows, “The bus shelter located between Paley Library and the TECH Center, Johnson and Hardwick halls and dining area, the IBC Student Recreation building, Morgan Hall and Dining Center, the SEPTA Regional Rail station, the Howard Gittis Student Center and the Tyler School of Art.”
These locations are set in central and popular areas for students and faculty further ensuring they are getting to and from campus safely and efficiently.
According to that same article by the Temple News, Temple Student Government President, Ryan Rinaldi, stated, “We’re very excited about this new service, which meets a need we have heard from many students. Flight offers an easy, convenient and safe way to get to or from campus. TSG is a proud partner in this innovative effort to improve student services.”
Furthermore, it went on to state the pervious shuttle services provided by the university, TUr Door and Owl Loop, will be discontinued upon Flight’s instatement.
TUr Door and Owl Loop, services that provided students with transportation from campus to their residences and with rides around Main Campus respectively according to Temple’s shuttle service website, only provided one way transportation. With Flight’s innovative two-way transportation ability and presence in the Temple community, those services will no longer be necessary.
To use this new and innovative service, “Students, faculty and staff can request Flight by downloading the TapRide app and selecting Temple from the list of university partners, logging in with a TUid, and selecting a location and a destination,” an article by the Temple News states, “Once a pickup location and drop-off destination are selected, the app will assign a shuttle and an estimated time of arrival based on a driver’s current location and the number of other pickups or drop-offs en route to the passenger.”