Towson students get on the Baltimore Collegetown shuttle. The free shuttle runs every day of the week during the academic year. Photo by Autumn Rose
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Two years ago Andrea Hopkins felt trapped and confined in her triple suite in the Glen Towers.
“When I was a freshman, new to Towson, I felt trapped and alone,” Hopkins said. “I was stuck in my tiny dorm room with two girls I had never met and really no way to get off campus and experience Towson and Baltimore.”
Hopkins, like many other freshman and transfer students at Towson, lived on campus with roommates she had never met before. She had to make new friends, learn to balance school and a social life, and deal with homesickness.
She couldn’t just pick up and go to Wal Mart or Target whenever she wanted to like she used to at home. She couldn’t go to Panera Bread to eat a warm, comforting bowl of her favorite broccoli and cheese soup. She couldn’t get into Baltimore to explore the Charm City that she had known as a child and had been so eager to rediscover as a young adult.
Hopkins, like the majority of freshman and sophomores living on campus, didn’t have a car. She was stuck on campus with no way out, until one day she discovered the Baltimore Collegetown shuttle.
The Baltimore Collegetown Network is comprised of the area’s 16 local colleges and universities and serves more than 120,000 college students. The network’s main feature offered to Baltimore’s college students is the Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle, a free shuttle that runs from Goucher College to the Inner Harbor and stops several places in-between.
Riding the shuttle is simple—all you need to do is flash your Towson Onecard and you can hop on for free.
All students, staff and faculty with a valid school identification card from any one of the 16 participating colleges, including Towson University, can ride at no cost. The network, hoping to attract more riders, even allows riders this year to bring up to two guests on the shuttle, free of charge.
According to their website, the Baltimore Collegetown Network works to change perceptions of the city as a college town through cultural offerings and improved transportation services. Ankur Ponda, senior program coordinator of the Baltimore Collegetown Network, said that the shuttle got started over 10 years ago.
“The Collegetown Shuttle got started…when Collegetown received a grant from the Teagle Foundation to do a study to find what held Baltimore back from being perceived as a college town,” Ponda said. “The first concern was safety, and the second transportation. It was then when colleges decided to pool their resources together and start this shuttle service.”
So far the shuttle has been a huge success, carrying over 72,000 riders around Baltimore each year.
Junior occupational therapy major Shannon Gathman uses the shuttle about three times a month to get to the Inner Harbor, Loyola University, John Hopkins University and the Towson Town Center.
“It is a great way to get to places without having to worry about who will drive, or who will be the designated driver,” Gathman said.
Gathman said that she has always been able to get on the shuttle without any problems, but that it is sometimes late and it is very crowded on weekends.
Senior art history major Taryn Williams saw firsthand how crowded the shuttle can get. The first time Williams tried to use the shuttle, it was full and she couldn’t get on. The next bus didn’t come until an hour and a half later, so Williams was left to drive into Baltimore and pay to park in a garage.
Taryn Williams checks the Collegetown shuttle schedule. Williams was unable to get on the shuttle because it was too crowded. Photo by Autumn Rose
“I was really looking forward to taking it to the Inner Harbor,” Williams said. “I was let down by how crowded it was, so crowded that I wasn’t able to get on.”
Williams, however, remains optimistic.
“I would try to take it again,” she said. “I think it’s an awesome service that should be utilized by more students. Plus, it’s free.”
The shuttle runs every day of the week during the academic year.
“The shuttle doesn’t run year round, it’s strictly for the academic year,” Ponda said. “Honestly, it would be great to have it running around the year, but there isn’t enough a demand for it or financial resources to run it throughout the year.”
Andrea Hopkins, now a junior nursing major, is glad that she discovered the Collegetown Shuttle as a freshman, and hopes that more students will take advantage of its services.
“The shuttle really saved me from dying of boredom as a freshman,” Hopkins said. “If you are a freshman or sophomore and you don’t have a car, you don’t have to feel trapped. Take advantage of free services like the Collegetown shuttle. Get out and explore the city.”
