The tram is unnecessary and is costing the ASCC too much money.
The tram circles the campus, picking up students from the parking lots and depositing them to their classes.
It only runs for one hour in the morning and a few hours at night.
On its first night of operation 97 riders used the tram. There are between 23,000 and 24,000 students on the Cerritos College campus.
It seems to me that a tram that can only hold around 20 students at a time and that is only in operation for a few hours a day is very unnecessary.
Especially considering that the people that would benefit the most from using it, the disabled and elderly, cannot use the tram because of its high step and lack of handrails.
Cerritos isn’t even a very big campus. We don’t have hills like Rio Hondo and a walk from the strawberry fields to the third floor of the Social Science building only takes about 15 minutes.
$18,000 – $20,000. Imagine what could have been done with that money. Maybe the bathrooms could have been remodeled or at least cleaned a little more. Maybe a recycling program could have been started. Maybe some really cool bands could have played in the Student Center.
On the first night of the tram’s operation, members of the ASCC rode the tram around the campus encouraging students to use it.
Would encouragement really be needed to get riders if the tram was something students wanted or needed? Sure, the ASCC will tell you that student encouragement is needed because most people think the tram is just for staff.
Really though, I think students just don’t want to sit for a tour around campus, that travels at 5 mph, just to get to their 10 a.m. math class.
Supporters of the tram could argue that night students need the tram for safety reasons. They can all ride it together as a group to the parking lot.
However, Cerritos is one of the safest community colleges in California and thanks to the safety phones and better lighting that the ASCC is getting for students; the tram is once again pointless.
Write a letter to the editor! Support the tram if you want to! I’d rather have some good bands in the Student Center and clean bathrooms
