KnightLynx still offers link to UCF night life

As the fall semester begins, one mode of late-night transportation appears to be firing on all cylinders.

KnightLynx, a bus service paid for by the Student Government Association, is now in its third semester.

The service, which runs Friday and Saturday from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., is separated into two lines known as the Green Line and the Blue Line. The Green Line begins at campus and provides transportation to locations such as Knights Plaza and Tivoli Apartments. The Blue Line travels farther down Alafaya Trail, heading all the way down to the Waterford Lakes Town Center and coming back around to campus with many stops along the way.

Adam Brock, SGA vice president and former KnightLynx director, said his original ridership goal for the spring 2011 semester was 2,500 students. The bus service ended up reaching nearly 7,000 students in its inaugural semester, which was a welcome surprise, Brock said.

"It exceeded our goal tremendously, especially with the amount of time we had to market the service," Brock said.

After its successful run, SGA chose not to run KnightLynx during the Summer A term and the service stopped for the first portion of the summer.

"In its first year, we want to be a little more cost-effective," Brock said. "We really didn't see that much of a demand for it."

KnightLynx cost $52,000 to operate during its first semester, according to the SGA budget, and a new, one-year contract was signed by SGA in July. The funds allocated for Knightlynx for the 2011-2012 fiscal year total up to $110,000.

Brock said these funds will go toward funding the full operation of the service, as well as any marketing and promotional materials that would be needed for KnightLynx. He said the response he has received for the service has been positive and that many students have found the transportation useful.

"People are thankful for this service," Brock said. "I remember, as KnightLynx director, people went ahead and they came up to me and they asked me, ‘Why didn't this happen sooner? It's my senior year of college, and I'm just getting this now.' They seem very thankful."

Kyle Reynolds, a sophomore computer science major, has been using the service since it first began in the spring. He said he uses KnightLynx primarily to get over to the Waterford Lakes Town Center to go shopping, take in a movie and buy groceries.

"It's been pretty good," Reynolds said. "I think it comes to the off-campus apartments a little bit later than on-campus places."

Reynolds also said that he would like to see the KnightLynx schedule expanded.

"I think KnightLynx should be more than just a weekend kind of thing," he said.

Reynolds said he would like to see the service run throughout the week, rather than just on Friday and Saturday nights. Brock, however, said that this is not a step the administration is prepared to take at the moment.

"I personally don't think right now we are ready for such a measure because we are still introducing the service to a lot of people," Brock said. "Once it gets that brand here at UCF, I think we'd be ready for that, but it's definitely possible looking into the future."