Mass transportation is exactly what Manhattan needs and has needed for years.
For students living off campus who do not own or have access to a car, it is a tedious – and sometime treacherous – bike ride or walk to class, especially in the icy winters.
K-State’s international student enrollment has also increased in recent years. These students who come to the university from overseas often have no car or bicycle and have a hard time getting around campus, let alone the city. Several students are forced to walk to grocery and retail stores like Dillon’s and Wal-Mart and cross large, busy intersections with no crosswalk, such as the intersection at Tuttle Creek Boulevard and Bluemont Avenue.
Bringing mass transportation to Manhattan will not only make transportation easier and cleaner – more people using the bus system means less emissions from individual cars. It will also make the city safer for hundreds of students and individuals across the city.
With the 2010 U.S. Census coming up and the city’s population set to be more than 50,000, we are eagerly looking forward to what we hope will be the next step in sustainable and safe developments in Manhattan.