A survey designed to target student transportation needs might alleviate kinks in the system and create new services for NIU students and DeKalb residents.

“We’re always seeking student input to improve the system,” said David Pack, Student Association Mass Transit Adviser. “If there’s a lack of bus service somewhere, we need to know that.”

The survey will provide student input on the Huskie Bus Line, Late Night Ride Service and a proposed shuttle bus service to Geneva. About 1,500 students will be questioned by mail.

The mass transit board is considering expanding the Late Night Ride Service to a nightly operation. The free service provides safe rides home and currently operates Thursday through Saturday, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., Pack said.

The Late Night Ride Service received between 50 and 100 calls last year during the nights that the service was offered, Pack said.

The survey will forecast the development of a shuttle service which would transport NIU students to Geneva, where they could ride a train to Chicago and surrounding areas. The shuttle would be “an alternative to Greyhound,” Pack said.

Erica Held, a junior accounting major, expressed interest in the Geneva shuttle. Held lives in Romeoville and said she took the bus home a couple of times last year.

If the survey finds a need for the shuttle, it must pass a six-week pilot period. During that time, the shuttle would leave NIU on Fridays and return on Sundays.

The shuttle would be “self-supported,” Pack said, meaning that no student fees would be used. “I don’t think it’s fair for someone who doesn’t live in Chicago to pay for someone to commute.”

The SA Mass Transit Board also runs the Handivan. Physically impaired people can use the Handivan service for transportation on campus and to surrounding DeKalb areas.

Other mass transit goals include creating a long-term planning committee for the system and increasing student and community awareness of the Huskie buses. Pack said the buses “could be utilized to a greater extent” by students and DeKalb residents to shop or to go to work.

The Huskie Bus system has been in operation since 1971 and is the second largest bus system in Illinois. The system is operated entirely by students.