Transportation and Parking unveils new incentives for remote parking

Shuttle service, Commuter Express permit to ease congestion during construction period

In response to a series of construction projects scheduled to begin in 2002, the Campus Area Bus Service (CABS) is offering a new park-and-ride shuttle service and"CX" (Commuter Express) parking permit designed to help offset decreases and shifts in central campus parking. Faculty and staff are encouraged to try out the new service beginning Sept. 1.

The new Commuter Express route will provide direct bus service with minimal stops for commuters from the new 2,000-space Buckeye Lot -- located just north of the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Fred Taylor Drive and Ackerman Road -- to the central campus core, said Sarah Blouch, director of Transportation and Parking Services. Buses will run every six minutes during peak hours -- 5:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday -- from the Buckeye Lot to north campus and the Medical Center.

"This is an interim solution to get us through the construction period," Blouch said."We'll probably reassess these routes in three years."

She said Transportation and Parking expects to have two new parking garages opened by 2003 that will provide an additional 1,000 net new parking spaces. A new Rhodes Hall Garage will be built on the current surface parking lot in front of Rhodes Hall, while a Neil Avenue Garage will be built on the Cunz Hall surface lot. Both projects are expected to begin in mid-2002.

A CX permit costs 50 percent less than a parking permit for central campus, Blouch said. Express permit holders can park on central campus after 4 p.m. weekdays, all day Saturday and Sunday, during quarter breaks and holidays, and on home football game days at any day-of-game lot. West campus permits continue to be 25 percent of central campus permit prices.

Blouch said the park-and-ride alternative from west campus remains an option, but those lots fill up quickly during fall, winter and spring quarters. With no land for expanding west campus parking, Transportation and Parking turned to the Buckeye Lot, which opened last fall.

Pilot project

"We piloted the concept with the Medical Center Express when construction began in that area in March," Blouch said. Medical Center faculty, staff and students were given the option to park for the remainder of the year in the Buckeye Lot. So far, the Medical Center Express, a direct line from the Buckeye Lot to the Medical Center complex running every six minutes during peak hours (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) and every 10 minutes the remainder of the day, has been a success.

Ada Scott, a secretary in the Medical Center, gladly exchanged her B hangtag for a CX permit.

"Using the Buckeye Lot and bus takes the same amount of time that it took me to park on central campus and walk to my office," Scott said."It's really reduced my stress level in the mornings not having to worry about finding a parking spot on campus. The 10 minutes on the bus allows me time to sit back and prepare myself for the day ahead."

Marlene Moore, administrative assistant in Nursing Administration, opted for the Medical Center Express over the Wiseman Lot.

"I had to be here by 7:30 a.m. to fight for a parking spot in Wiseman," Moore said."I had to wait for night shift staff to leave their spots. At the Buckeye Lot, I have my choice of hundreds of spots."

Transportation and Parking also is increasing frequency on the campus loop route to provide faster and additional service from west campus to the perimeter of central campus, shaving service frequency from 10 minutes to seven minutes, Blouch said. It is offering more frequent service to the Kenny Road Service Area, increasing the frequency of service to Buckeye Village, and maintaining the Core Circulator as an integral part of the overall route structure.

Blouch said the adjustments were made with no increase in departmental budget or vehicle demand. While the North Express and Buckeye Village routes no longer exist as they were, service to those areas will continue.

"CABS is solely funded through parking permits," Blouch said,"so we are obligated to give parking customers parking remotely a high priority for service."

As an extra incentive to use the new express -- and to help express permit holders avoid traffic from events held at the Schottenstein Center -- anyone buying a Commuter Express permit will receive five coupons to be used to park on central campus in garages or any unrestricted"A,""B" or"C" space. Blouch stressed that permit holders can make changes in permit status in mid-year to adjust to changing needs.

For more information, visit the Transportation and Parking Web site at www.tp.ohio-state.edu/.

The new shuttle follows the success of a pilot express route from the Buckeye Lot to the Medical Center, which remains in effect.

Researchers track myopia progression in adults

Nearsighted adults on campus, take heart. A team of Ohio State optometry researchers is trying to find out why the condition, myopia, progresses in adults who are in or approaching their thirties.

Led by Mark Bullimore, associate professor of optometry, the study takes into account the risks for myopia progression associated with certain work-related behaviors -- primarily the use of computers and other close work. Based on a pilot study now in its third year, the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded Bullimore and his team a $1.15 million grant to fund the research.

To date, most studies of adult myopia have focused on selective professional groups, such as military pilots or microscopists. But considering that nearsightedness affects more than one in four Americans, Bullimore is interested in identifying an underlying cause for its progression past childhood. In most people, myopia appears during the early school years and stabilizes before college. In others, however, it can develop or worsen after age 20.

"If there is an underlying cause for progression, can we identify it, and could we also predict it?" Bullimore said."Looking down the road, if we find a relationship between computer use and the progression of myopia, for example, then we can think about ways to prevent it."

Among those expected to benefit from the findings are individuals who opt for refractive surgery to correct their vision. Knowing the potential for changes in eyesight in adulthood -- and the fact that myopia could recur -- will allow nearsighted people to make more informed decisions about when and whether to undergo the surgery, Bullimore said. In addition, depending on the study's outcomes, nearsighted patients of the future could be prescribed special glasses or receive education about how to reduce any risks that could cause myopia to progress, he suggests -- though any such advances are years away.

The study, in fact, will span five years -- and is nicknamed SPAN: The Study of Progression of Adult Nearsightedness. The 500 subjects between ages 25 and 35 to be recruited will undergo annual eye exams as well as an assessment of their daily activities compiled through questionnaires and the use of electronic pagers. Over five years, those whose myopia progresses will be compared with those whose vision doesn't change, and researchers will determine if near work is a factor in either case.

The researchers are using state-of-the-art equipment to measure subjects'eye size and shape over time with instrumentation that can detect changes as small as five hundredths of a millimeter; the lengthening of the eye indicates progression of myopia. Annual questionnaires about daily activities are supplemented by the experience sampling method -- subjects are randomly paged several times a day over two one-week periods each year to report the distance at which they are working at the time of the page.

"It is innovative to apply this technique to this kind of study," Bullimore said."We know subjects try to estimate their activities accurately on the questionnaires, but we are making use of new technology to get an even better estimate of the amount of near work and other things patients do with their eyes."

Subjects will be recruited among Ohio State's faculty and staff, both for convenience and because researchers can find patients who perform an enormous variety of occupations and an ethnically diverse population within the University.

"The aim of the study is to quantify the risks associated with certain activities. The pilot has shown that some respondents report that they spend over 60 percent of their day doing near work, while others report that just 10 percent of their day involves near work," Bullimore said."It's that range of exposure that will help quantify the risk. You can't quantify the risks of near work if everybody is doing the same amount."

For more information about the study, contact Jessica Cullen at 688-5836 or myopia@optometry.osu.edu.

next page...