Program seeks safe transportation for international students

More than 1,000 international students made their way to the Cape Region this summer, according to representatives of the International Student Outreach Program, but getting them around the area safely continues to be a nerve-wracking problem for local volunteers.

Many of the students ride their bikes to work, and while the new trails built in the Cape Region have helped, students still ride their bikes on Route 1. While no students have been killed this year, a 24-year-old Polish woman was severely injured in August. Program Director Maryanne Kauffman said the woman went back to Poland in September after spending weeks at Christiana Hospital but she is still undergoing physical therapy in her native country. She was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

Bicycle advocacy group Bike Delaware has recently called Route 1 the most dangerous road in the state, with more than 20 crashes in 2019 alone. Bike Delaware is surveying cyclists statewide to gather input to improve cyclist safety.

It’s a conversation the outreach program is paying careful attention to. For several years, the program, working with Delaware Department of Transportation, has conducted safety classes for students to help them safely navigate the area. In-person orientations have been provided in the past, but Kauffman said those have been sparsely attended while online orientations through the ISOP website fared better. She said the plan will be to have all orientations online next year. 

Kauffman said the program has asked DART to provide a reduced fare option for international students in order to reduce the number of bikes on Route 1. 

“Now that the buses are running more frequently, they have more stops, and they are going further off into the communities, I think it is an ideal way for them to get to work,” Kauffman said of the students.

DART buses have bike racks, so students could attach their bikes to the buses. Kauffman said she discussed the matter with DART officials but nothing came of it for this year. She said DART is not in favor of reducing fares for one specific group and that the price of the bus is already affordable, particularly if they use the park-and-ride discount. 

Kauffman said DART is not understanding the needs of international students, none of whom have cars and few of whom can realistically afford $65 a month for four to five months for a pass. 

“They have already paid between $2,000 and $4,000 to get their job and paperwork, and that doesn't include airfare and housing,” Kauffman said. “This is why they work two and three jobs.” 

Kauffman dismissed the idea of cutting down on the number of bikes loaned out in order to increase bus ridership because the students will just buy bikes at Walmart.

“We have talked about the wisdom of loaning bikes to students when the area is so dangerous for cyclists, but our thinking is that in order to get a bike from the DelDOT program, the students must attend a bike safety class which covers biking in general but focuses on the dangers of biking here. We offer route planning to help them find the safest way to get from home to work. They hear an impassioned plea for helmet use. Tying the bike loan to a safety class is the best way we have of educating the students,” she said.

She said ISOP would like to have a pass that runs from May 1 to Oct. 1 for $100.

“We feel we are in a good position to promote bus use. We can put a link to the DART website on our website and Instagram account. We can have DART representatives attend the student dinners to advertise and sell passes. We can ask the sponsor organizations to include the bus information in their communications with students. But at $65 per month, they won't be interested, especially when they can buy a cheap bike at Walmart. This is why we are hoping for a $100, five-month pass, to compete with what they can pay for a bike,” Kauffman said.

Julie Theyerl, spokeswoman for DART, said the service is looking into various passes to offer statewide, not solely for international students.  She said DART recently rolled out a seven-day pass for $18 and a 30-day pass for $65. Theyerl said in addition to the buses themselves having bike racks, racks can be found at the Lewes and Rehoboth Beach transit centers, which also have free parking. She said the Lewes center has a bike repair center as well.

DelDOT runs a bike program for the students to provide them with a bike, with 191 bikes loaned out this year. The bikes come with lights and all students are offered helmets. Of the bikes loaned out, 134 were returned with 18 reported stolen. Kauffman said probably 30 bikes have not been returned and are presumed to be stolen, but the students have not responded to requests for information on the bikes. 

She said, “The reality is, we don't know how many students would use the bus.  But we do know that they are coming from countries where public transportation is the norm.”

Kauffman said she would continue mobilizing support and pressuring DART to reduce fares.

All told, 1,042 students came to the Cape Region this summer. Of those, 857 worked or lived in Rehoboth, 144 in Dewey Beach and 41 in Lewes. Kauffman said this is 50 more students than in 2018.