Transportation Services held its fourth transportation town hall meeting on Monday, April 15, 2013. The meeting took place in the Moores Cancer Center and was intended to give medical center staff and faculty an opportunity to provide feedback to TPS. In January, TPS announced that changes to its services would need to occur in order to close a $2.1 million budget deficit.

Earlier this February, several other town hall meetings including an undergraduate town hall lead to the indefinite postponement of cuts to shuttles and increases in parking costs. During that time, TPS continued to collect input from the campus community andby holding town hall meetings 

“The need to address the budget deficit has not changed,” Director of Auxiliary Business Services Robert Holden said. “We have been able to get additional ideas and input from students, staff and faculty. We are taking the input into consideration as we redesign the proposed changes.”

However, according to Adam Powers, former A.S. undergraduate representative to the Transportation Policy Committee, service cuts and fee hikes are undeniably in the horizon.

“As far as I know, there are no solutions to the TPS budget deficit that would not require either cutting services or raising fees,” Powers said. “Since TPS is charged with being self-sustaining, those are the only two options.”

Additionally, Powers advocates TPS, UCSD and San Diego Association of Governments involvement to pressure San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for reasonable prices and favorable terms of service.

“This crisis has reared its head a few times … I strongly urge every student to stay informed on the issue and contact your TPC representatives to ensure your voice gets heard,” Powers said.

Meanwhile, transportation continues to be a dominant issue with the newly elected student body representatives of A.S. Council.

“There are many different efforts going on,” A.S. President-elect Andy Buselt said. “Presently, I’m looking at the bike and pedestrian master plan. I’ve already started language on analyzing the bike system on campus.”

Another town hall meeting is scheduled for the Hillcrest location of the medical center on April 18. The schedule for the next undergraduate town hall meeting has not yet been determined.