Ram Van Office Moves to O’Hare

Students returning to Fordham after Christmas break may have noticed an interesting sight: the road in front of McGinley Center was devoid of Ram Vans.

The Ram Van Office, which governs transportation between Fordham's Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, moved to a renovated space in the basement of the University's parking garage on Jan. 3. Ram Vans will now depart from in front of the new office.

Marc Canton, Fordham's Director of Intercampus Transportation, said that the move was made with regards to safety, space and convenience.

"We're a 15-passenger van being driven around campus," Canton said.  "You have a lot of people, especially between classes, with their headphones on, on their cell phones, whatever it may be.  It's predominantly a pedestrian campus; you walk across the street, and a van's coming. Knock on wood, we've never had any major incidents, but the idea was, or is, ‘Hey do we really want the vans in the center of campus, really in the heart of campus?' You have the McGinley Center there and Eddie's Parade. If we can avoid that, and separate the vehicular traffic from the pedestrian traffic, that just seems prudent to me."

Previously, the Ram Vans had shared University roads with facility management vehicles.  Canton indicated that he could see the improvements in vehicular safety as a result of relocating the Ram Van office.

"Already, I can see traffic flow is much better.  We're not interfering with the traffic flow on and off campus as much. We do not have to interact with pedestrians as much. We're sort of on an outskirt," Canton said.

In addition to the added safety benefits, the Ram Van staff also has more space. Previously, Canton shared an office with two other administrators and with the Ram Van's student workers. Drivers did not have a specified central location in which to wait for their rides.

The lack of space also made it difficult for Ram Van passengers, who had to wait in long lines to buy tickets, obtain free passes or ask questions of the Ram Van staff. Passengers also had to wait outside of McGinley Center for their vans, even in inclement weather.

Now, the Ram Van office has increased counter space for the purpose of serving students, which in turn means that multiple students can be helped simultaneously. Passengers also have a designated waiting room where they can remain until their van leaves.

Cantonstated that he felt there were several advantages to moving the Ram Van office.  For example, the office is now located closer to the Ram Van fleet. According to Canton, this will help to reduce travel delays. 

"Even when we were operating out of McGinley, our vans were parked here," Canton said.  "There were a few behind McGinley, or in front, but the majority of the fleet was parked in the garage. You would see four vans outside of McGinley. The Ram Van fleet is much larger than that.  The Ram Van fleet is 20 vehicles. To operate the Lincoln Center service alone, we need at least 12 vans, and there are times of the day when we need as many as 15. So the drivers, then, would walk all the way here to the garage and then bring the vehicle back up to McGinley. So, obviously for us, that's an advantage to be so close to the vehicles."

Having all the drivers in a central location will allow for easier communication among the Ram Van staff, according to Canton.  While some students are responding postitively to the move, others are unafraid to voice logistical concerns.

James Demetriades, FCRH '15, who uses the Ram Van at least twice a week, voiced a concern about the new office that will affect some students at Fordham.

"I think it's far away from the side of campus that I live on and the side of campus where I normally have my activities," Demetriades said.  "And it's a little out of the way."

Demetriades admitted, however, that he would likely continue to use the Ram Van because it is cheaper than the Metro North and more accessible than taking a subway.

According to an email sent to Fordham students last Friday, Security will be offering a service to transport people between a series of campus locations and the new Ram Van office location.

"Security will provide transportation for people in need of being shuttled across Rose Hill's 85-acre campus," the email said.

Transportation will be offered from the garage to a number of popular campus locations, including the gate near the Metro North stop, the McGinley Center, Fordham Prep, Walsh Library and Tierney Hall, between 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  There are a total of 12 campus locations to which the service will travel, and the email reports that students will be able to board or to depart the continual shuttle only if they are at a designated campus stop.

The Ram Van ticket machine will remain in McGinley Center for the time being, and the Ram Van office is currently working with IT to create a website.  The website will not include ticket-purchasing capabilities, since that would require expensive bar-code reading software to ensure that tickets are not duplicated.