Over the weekend many students returning to Bowdoin from Winter Break found themselves trying to coordinate last minute taxi rides back to campus from Portland International Jetport.
Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) coordinates groups and pick-up times with Brunswick Taxi to transport students to the Portland International Airport at the beginning of breaks, and many wonder why the same service is not available for the return to campus.
BSG President Michael Dooley '10 said that return trips would be "entirely too hard" to arrange.
Vice President for Facilities Isa Abney '11 plans the Brunswick Taxi rides to the airport before the start of every break.
In anticipation of Fall Break, 100 students requested coordinated cab rides. The number grew to 200 students for Thanksgiving Break and approximately 300 students for Winter Break, Abney said.
Trying to coordinate return taxi rides for hundreds of returning students would be too difficult said Abney, who cited weather-induced flight delays as one reason.
The process of arranging the rides is no quick task, according to Dooley and Abney. Before the start of every break, an e-mail is sent to the entire campus, guiding students who need a taxi to the appropriate Web site where they fill in their name and flight departure time. All of the information is inserted into a spreadsheet where overlapping times are grouped together.
Manager of Brunswick Taxi Sara King said that the each taxi can accommodate between nine and 10 people. Brunswick Taxi charges $20 per person, a reduced price compared to other taxi services, which can charge close to $60 per person, according to King.
Dooley, who was responsible for coordinating airport shuttle rides last year as then-Vice President for Facilities, explained that the return trip coordination has "been definitely attempted" in the past.
While BSG can guarantee that a student will arrive on time for a flight departure, they cannot ensure a student's plane will arrive on time and not leave one person who is expecting transportation without it.
In any event, BSG wants all students to be familiar with the taxi services available to students as provided by Brunswick Taxi, with which Bowdoin has a "well-established" relationship, according to Dooley.
Although BSG does not coordinate rides back, students can still call Brunswick Taxi before their trip home, request a taxi, and find out if there are any other students leaving the airport back to campus at or around the same time.
When asked about return rides home, King expressed her wish for more students to know that Brunswick Taxi is available on the way back to campus. All students must do is call the service before their flight and provide their name and flight number.
"We would put them in with other students," said King, who said that Brunswick Taxi will try to group students who arrive at similar times for $30 a person for two people or $20 a person for three people or more.
More information regarding the shuttles to the airport, Freeport, Portland and Cook's Corner can be found on the BSG Web site.