Campus commutes are back with an emphasis on sustainability

After more than a year of distance learning, the return to campus also means the return to daily commutes. While many students may already be familiar with the different transportation services available to them, new students face the challenge of learning how to get around on and off campus. 

For many students, this means a new bike. ASUCD Bike Barn senior mechanic Oscar McBain said that the Bike Barn is a key resource for new and experienced bikers alike.  

“The ASUCD Bike Barn has been on campus for 50 years,” McBain said via email. “Our goal is to empower students for success at UC Davis by providing helpful service to keep you on the road.”  

The most important thing for prospective bike owners and bike riders is to find a bike that fits their specific needs, according to McBain. 

“Think of your bike as an investment and a tool; when selected and maintained correctly, it will save you lots of time, money and effort,” McBain said. “This means something 

different for everyone…consider your options and let the Bike Barn’s mechanics help empower you to enjoy your ride.” 

    McBain said that this is an exciting year for the Bike Barn both because of the return of students and new programs.

“We had an awesome move-in week and the start of school — we sold out of almost all our bikes,” McBain said. “We will be launching…our mobile repair service using our TGIF-funded e-cargo bike to meet students where they are to provide assistance and spread the word about our services.” 

    While biking is the most common mode of transportation in Davis, those who do not bike also have convenient transportation options available to them, notably ASUCD Unitrans, which is free to all undergraduate students. 

ASUCD Unitrans general manager Jeffery Flynn explained that the Unitrans bus system is a great resource for students and community members alike. 

“We’re one of the very few public transit systems in America that is operated by students,” Flynn said. “We are the city’s bus system, we’re the campus bus system and it’s very, very rare to see a city and campus bus system that is totally operated by students —

I think this makes it more fun, more friendly and more approachable.” 

    Flynn explained despite the fact that Unitrans is operating with fewer student drivers than what is typical. Multiple lines are operating with service running semi-frequently.

“We have 18 lines that go to almost every single place in Davis and while we’re not quite back at full strength for service levels, service is relatively frequent,” Flynn said. “Right now we’re running 30-60 minute service and as we get more student drivers we’ll be at 15-30 minute service.” 

Like the Bike Barn, Unitrans has new plans to update its services in the coming years. 

“Our goal is to never buy a fossil fuel powered bus ever again,” Flynn said. “We have about 50 busses and our plan is to start retiring those busses and replacing them with electric buses and within the next two to two and a half years we’ll have replaced about 25% of our fleet with electric buses.” 

Another useful on-campus transportation resource is UC Davis’ Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) which is the general transportation department for the campus. TAPS manages a variety of services including but not limited to parking, demand management, the bicycle program and the UC Davis airport. 

TAPS Transportation Demand Manager Ramon Zavala explained that preparing for this school year was very different to prior years.

“Given the ongoing COVID pandemic we’ve put a lot of work into facilitating no-touch/minimal interaction with our services,” Zavala said via email. “We were pretty certain that with the reduction of transit options (reduced Unitrans and Yolobus trips per day due to the driver shortage) and with people not feeling 100% safe in mixed household carpools, we were going to get a lot more vehicles on campus than normal.” 

Because of this increase in the number of individuals commuting via car, Zavala explained that TAPS encouraged people to use alternate modes of transportation both because of the impact that would have on the availability of parking on-campus and because of the importance of choosing sustainable transportation options. 

“Thus far it looks to have reduced week 1 parking demand 7-10%, so that was genuinely effective,” Zavala said. “Transportation Services is, at our heart, we’re a sustainability organization. We want you to ride your bike, take the bus, and do whatever to not bring a car. If you get fed up paying for parking and decide to carpool with your roommates instead, that’s a success.” 

Written by: Yan Yan Hustis Hayes — city@theaggie.org

Businesses are optimistic about potential expansions

    As school enters full swing, UC Davis students have been descending upon the city of Davis in droves, often going to places in downtown to satiate their appetites. Many students and parents go out for dinner after moving, according to My Burma manager Anne Guidici.

    “We’ve had an influx of students returning to campus,” Guidici said. “A lot of our bigger groups in the past couple of weeks have been parents and students going out to dinner after moving in, or just getting to know the area before heading back to their respective homes.”

    Handheld Davis co-owner Michael Sutton expressed a similar sentiment, stating that foot traffic has gone up for his food truck.  

    “I’m definitely seeing a lot more foot traffic,” Sutton said.  “The majority of our business involves foot traffic. We did just start about three weeks ago, so it’s hard to compare, as we have only really had one week to compare with.”

    Handheld has also benefited from having some local connections, according to co-owner Stephanie Maroney. 

    “The majority of our customers are local Davisites,” Maroney said.  “Michael has worked in food service in Davis for the last 10 years, so a lot of our first customers were people who have supported us in the past and who know us and who have found out about our business from the Davis Enterprise.”

My Burma, on the other hand, has been open throughout most of the pandemic, Guidici explained.

    “We had to make a lot of adjustments for ever changing regulations,” Guidici said. “We stayed as solely takeout for a while, and when the restrictions lifted, we had minimal outdoor dining. But with everything going on with the Delta virus, it’s kind of wishy washy on what we’re supposed to do. Currently we are open as dine-in and dine-out, and we continue to offer take-out, DoorDash and UberEats. We’re just making efforts to reach as many customers as we can.”

    Guidici emphasized the role of friendly service in My Burma’s success, despite the lack of dine-in options throughout the pandemic.  

    “We strive for the friendliest service possible,” Guidici said. “They know all the stations, so if they need to food run, if they need to bartend, they know how to do it. Knowing our cuisine, knowing our full menu, it’s just the staff, the service, the food.”

    The recent good business has inspired My Burma to consider expanding to new locations, according to Guidici.  

    “We are hoping that we can open more locations, not necessarily in Davis, but in Sacramento too, to serve that community,” Guidici said. “A spot in downtown is ideal because it’s closest to the college in Sacramento.”

    Handheld is a small family business, so it has limited hours. Even so, Maroney said that they eventually hope to expand the business’ hours and do more events downtown.  

    “We’re open from Fridays to Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and we also work with the Davis craft fair,” Maroney said. “We have only done Fridays and Saturdays because it is a family business run only by me and Michael and our kids, so Fridays and Saturdays are the only days that work for us right now.  We anticipate opening more hours in the future and also doing more special events around town; we are excited to work with other small businesses and support different causes in our community and try to just be a good neighbor in downtown Davis.”

    The decision to open My Burma amid the pandemic may have seemed to be a bold move, and Guidici speculated that the owner was very confident about the quality of his cuisine.  

    “I have talked to the owner and he was pretty confident that his cuisine would be popular here,” Guidici said. “Davis is a very diverse place with a lot of very open people who are willing to try different things.”

Written by: Rachel Shey — city@theaggie.org

Nobody was hurt or injured

On Sept. 24, a fire broke out near Cambridge House Apartments, according to a post by the City of Davis Fire Department (DFD).

“Last night at 10pm Davis Fire responded to a structure fire on Adeline Place,” the post reads. “The fire was quickly upgraded to two alarms due to its size and potential for spread to nearby structures.”

The post added that the fire was able to be contained.

“DFD, with support from @westsacfire, @ucdavisfire and @woodland_fire were able to contain the fire and prevent serious damage to surrounding structures,” the post reads. “No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported and the cause is currently under investigation.”

Brionne Kirkwood, a fifth year animal science and management major, was at her friend’s house at the time the fire broke out. They got a bang on their door around 10 p.m..

“We walked outside and everyone was running around frantic, and we’re like ‘what’s going on?’” Kirkwood said. “This girl yelled out ‘there’s a fire!’, and I was like ‘where?’, and we turned around and it was right behind the apartment. There was the Cambridge House Apartments, and there was this big hedge, and then the fire was on the house right next to the apartment.”

Soon after, everybody was told to evacuate.

“We were told to evacuate immediately, not even by the apartment but by residents that lived there,” Kirkwood said. 

The situation lasted about one and a half hours, Kirkwood stated.

“I think the firefighters stayed at the house though — they stayed at the house all night — to make sure nothing else sparked I guess,” Kirkwood said.

Kirkwood later received a text letting her know that nobody was injured.

“Thankfully I got a text that the residents were okay, and the people and the neighbors, everything was okay,” Kirkwood said. “They evacuated, no one was hurt. The inside of the house was probably pretty bad. I don’t know how it started though, they just said everyone was okay and that was what I was kind of worried about.”

Despite the suddenness of the fire, nobody was hurt.

“Just a freaky thing to happen on a Friday, literally right next to the apartment,” Kirkwood said. 

Written by: Shraddha Jhingan — city@theaggie.org