UTRGV to set up temporary shelter, plans for new bus stop
About a dozen Harlingen-based students boarded the UTRGV shuttle to Edinburg soaked in water Aug. 26 after waiting in the rain at the new bus pickup location.
Criminal justice senior John Davis said the rain was “unfortunate” and that he wished there had been shelter.
“I also would have liked to have known that the [location] was changed,” Davis said. “I didn’t get an email about it. … I wish they would have put just a little roof or something, shelter, just in case something like this would have happened.”
History graduate student Julian Cruz, a passenger on the bus, said it was “not the happiest experience” but it was one he “unfortunately had to go through.”
“There’s no seating,” Cruz said. “The other bus stop had all the proper, you know, necessities for handicapped. This one [does not]. It does have a ramp for the sidewalk, but not everyone just needs a ramp.”
In an interview Thursday with The Rider, Patrick Gonzales, vice president for University Marketing and Communications, said the university made the change from the UTRGV Clinical Education Building to the Harlingen Soccer Complex to accommodate a need for more parking.
“Starting today, we will put up three 12-by-12 tents daily … so there’s shelter provided there,” Gonzales said.
He said there are no long-term plans to build shelter or seating at the complex because the location is temporary, but the university has plans to construct a sheltered bus stop near the Institute of Neuroscience Building, located at 2902 Haine Drive in Harlingen, by the 2025-26 academic year.
UTRGV Police will monitor the temporary bus stop to address safety concerns, Gonzales said.
Maribel Contreras, director of Transportation, said Parking and Transportation Services sent an email to inform Harlingen-based students of the change.
The department also announced the change and a new “Park & Ride” circulator route in an Aug. 23 Instagram post.
The circulator, which transports the UTRGV community from the education building to the parking near the soccer complex and back, runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday with a 10-minute interval.
Gonzales said parking at the new pickup spot is free and no permit is required.
