StuCo Discusses Activity Budget

At this week's meeting Student Council focused on planning Boston busses and discussed possible ticket expenses and bus schedule.Council decided in a landslide vote that Sunday would be the best day of the week to run Boston busses. In addition, the cost per ticket is estimated to be $10, compared to the $32 of an Amtrak round-trip ticket to Boston.Vice President Emily Lemmerman said that charging each student $10 would result in a $300 expenditure for each trip to Boston.  “The pure cost of ordering the buses is about $750 to $800 per trip.  If we charge 10 dollars, which we think is the ideal cost and a good medium compared to the cost of a train ticket, and if everyone is on the bus, we would only make $500,” Lemmerman said. “So we’d lose $300 per trip, and StuCo would pay for this amount.”Secretary Benj Cohen said that the Boston busses project was an example of Council’s overall mission. “Boston busses represent the epitome of what StuCo does. Our purpose is to provide services for students; if students want it, we hope to provide it, and the Boston busses project is just one example,” Cohen said. “Our goal for the Boston buses is to create a good schedule so that many students who want to go to Boston can go out to the city and have a great time.”According to Lemmerman, Boston busses will run about five times a year, and will start running by the end of fall term, if all goes well.  “With us selling the tickets at $10 each, Council will lose $300 if there is a full bus,” Lemmerman said.  “This makes it difficult to run more than a couple of trips per term without help from Student Activities.”The Boston busses project, Cohen said, was originally the idea of former Student Council President Max Freedman ’13, and Council started talking about the issue last year.Responses from students about Boston busses have been generally positive.  “This is a good idea because Boston busses will provide an escape from the Exeter bubble,” upper Paul Lei said. “Going to Boston will be an opportunity for students to enjoy time with their friends in one of the liveliest cities around the area.”In addition to Boston busses, Council committees reported updates.  The newly initiated Dining Services Committee said that they would have their first meeting with Dining Services on Thursday morning, and Recreations Committee reported working on the Halloween Assembly.  Also, Public Services announced that they were working on videos and posters for the fall Exeter/Andover games to be held this November.