Adda Ashcraft often wakes up at 5:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday to walk nearly two miles to her campus job.
Ashcraft, a junior studying industrial and systems engineering, works as a lifeguard at the Aquatic Center and has to be to work before the buses begin running.
“My (family was) adamant that I should have my car on campus this year,” Ashcraft said in an email. “They were afraid of me walking to and from work in the dark (which is typical for both my morning and evening shifts) because I live off-campus about 2 miles from the pool at the end of West Washington.”
She is not the only student on campus who has to rise at an early hour and head to an on-campus job without any access to transportation.
A team of approximately 15 students works for Parking Services as event staff, Annie Weber, the student event manager for the event staff, said. Those students often have to walk or drive to work at 6 a.m. for Parking Services, with no transportation provided to them.
For some, that is seen as a safety issue.
“The CATS route 7 a.m. starting shift is to ensure students and faculty/staff can utilize the early morning route to ensure they are getting to and from work/class on time even if it is early morning Monday - Friday,” Bridget Gilmore, the transportation operations supervisor, said in an email.
She said the early CATS route closes at 5:30 p.m. and is picked up by the late night loop of the CATS service runs after that. Gilmore said that loop runs Monday through Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
“These times cover the bulk of each day for riders,” she said.
For the 15 students who hold the event staff and parking attendant positions, however, they are in the narrow slot where there is no transportation available.
“They have to go in that early because we have a meeting before they are staffed at 7:30 a.m. and then the process of that and reconciliation takes approximately an hour,” Weber said in email.
Weber said students who work for Parking Services have a limited number of ways to get to work.
If students have safety concerns, Teresa Trussell, the parking operations supervisor, said the best thing to do is talk to the Ohio University Police Department because it is the official safety department on campus and OUPD can discuss safety in the morning hours.
Additionally, students can voice their concerns with Gilmore, and she can work to get their schedule changed or help find a way for those students to safely get to work.
Another solution for students working early hours is teaming up with someone who they trust who has a car and can drive across campus, Ashcraft said.
“I drive 8/10 times. For the most part, I have always felt very safe no matter where I am because I normally having either pepper spray or a taser on me and have taken many classes in self-defense,” Ashcraft said in an email.
