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The Movie Express, which debuted last week, isn’t the only new shuttle service on campus. This past Saturday marked the start of the International Foods Express, a pilot Marguerite service to Cupertino funded by the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and operated by Parking & Transportation Services (P&TS).
The shuttle, which will run from 1:00 p.m. until 6:37 p.m. every Saturday this quarter, took 24 students to Vallco Fashion Park and two supermarkets, Marina Food and Ranch 99 last weekend.
“The maximum capacity for each trip is 30, so we were pleased by this turnout,” said GSC Representative Song Li, a graduate student in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering.
Since October, Li has been working with the GSC, P&TS, the Graduate Student Transportation Board, the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Stanford and the city of Cupertino to design the new route. He got the idea when he was approached by students without cars who needed transportation to Cupertino to run errands.
“The two supermarkets, Ranch 99 and Marina Food, were chosen because they are the two major supermarkets close to Stanford with Chinese and other Asian foods available,” Li said. The new shuttle’s route includes the Vallco Fashion Park so that “people with little interest in the food supermarkets can also take advantage of the service and thus benefit the whole Stanford community.”
The GSC made an agreement with P&TS to fund the Express at the end of fall quarter.
“They are funding the shuttle and we have agreed to operate it,” confirmed P&TS Charter Services Coordinator Karen Moscone. “It is a charter contract similar to the Movie Express and Senior Night shuttles.”
If the service is successful, the GSC will try to convince the malls and markets the Express visits to provide funding.
Li is also open to expanding shuttle service to Sundays if turnout is high, though additional weekday service is unlikely. On the other hand, if turnout is low, the service will not continue into spring quarter. Still, Li is optimistic.
“We expect more people to take the shuttle in the next few weeks as news about this service spreads,” he said. “We would like undergraduates to take advantage of the service, since many do not own a car. The Express will help save students time and money, reduce traffic, and improve the environment.”