PULLMAN, Wash. – The Visitor Center Event Express is being introduced Saturday to provide transportation from the Cougar Depot, the home of the Washington State University Visitor Center, to the central campus for each home football game.
The Event Express will use up to three 15-passenger vans to shuttle game patrons between the WSU Cougar Depot and the Food Fair area on Colorado Street. The service will be free and available to anyone attending the game. It will operate two and one half hours before game time, and will continue during the game until the end of the post-game event.
Saturday’s service for the UCLA game will begin at 10 a.m. for the
12:30 p.m. kickoff. Off-street parking is available in the Washington Mutual parking lot, the transit transfer station and the adjacent City parking lot on Davis Way. Some on-street parking will also be available.
According to Chris Boyan, Visitor Center coordinator, the idea for the pilot program was a natural. “We are already selling general admission tickets at the Visitor Center on game days. Since these are the folks who park the farthest from the stadium, it seemed like that created a natural market for a shuttle service too.”
The Visitor Center will be open on football game days starting at 8 a.m. Football general admission tickets are $14 for adults, $5.00 for children (18 and under), and $34.00 for families.
Besides filling a need, the Event Express will be used to test the market and the feasibility of running transportation on campus and around town on game days. Parking Services hopes to gain experience and information that can be shared with area transit providers for considering expanded service for football games and other events on the campus and in the community.
The cost to run the service is estimated to be approximately $300 a game, Boyan said.
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