SA to add Lucinda Avenue extension to Barsema Express

By Leah Nicolini

The Student Association may soon begin test runs of a modified HuskieLine bus route that will add the Lucinda Avenue extension to the Barsema Express.

The Lucinda Avenue extension, a project that concludes with a ribbon cutting Wednesday at 2 p.m., extends Lucinda Avenue through where Douglas hall formerly stood to Stadium Drive West. The extension will decrease commuting time and increase convenience, said NIU architect Thomas Wroblewski.

“One of the things [NIU] President [Doug] Baker talked about was being able to have a 10-minute campus,” said NIU spokesman Brad Hoey. “This was what the president and some others heard from students; they wanted to be able to go from all areas of campus within 10 minutes whether it be by bike, skateboard, walking or public transit.”

The Barsema Express bus route, which runs from Northern View Apartments to Barsema Hall, takes 15 minutes one way, according to Huskieline.com. In order to fulfill Baker’s 10-minute campus initiative, the route would have to be reduced by five minutes.

“We’re going to try to match them (Barsema Express and the Lucinda extension) and combine them because they hit the same stops,” said Rob Jusino, SA director of Mass Transit. “What we’re looking to do is combine the two together and create this new Lucinda express. It would be pretty easy because they lay out together nicely.”

Jusino is collaborating with Transdev, a company the HuskieLine buses are serviced out of, to work out the technicalities of the route. The HuskieLine may do test runs of the potential “Lucinda express” route throughout this semester.