Transportation Services offers much more to the Michigan Tech community than just citations. Tony Abe, the assistant manager of MTU Transportation Services, explained in an interview that at the core of their organization they are focused on customer service and that they, “really want to be out there helping the community.”
There is no better example of this than Transportation Services’ courtesy card system. Instituted in 2023, it is a proactive way for transportation officers to interact with the public. While on patrol if they notice anything wrong with a vehicle, they will leave a card for the owner letting them know of the issue as well as issuing an email from the transportation office alerting them to the problem. These notices are for anything from flat tires and open windows to suspicious dents and forgotten headlights.
Transportations services can even help with most of those problems. Completely free of charge, located in Admin 100 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, they can jump a dead battery, assist with flat tires, help vehicles out of icy parking spots, and supply gas for those running on empty. Abe hopes that these sorts of services show the public that Transportation Services is not just looking out for tickets but is also looking out for the community.
Winter Carnival is just around the corner, and Transportation Services is making parking readily available to both commuters and overnight guests. By the end of the day Wednesday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 11, there will be free parking at all on-campus meters, and Lot 26 across from McNair will be open to visitors for free overnight parking. For those who run into car trouble during the all-nighter, Transportation Services is ready and available to help until 1 a.m. They will be open the rest of Winter Carnival weekend during their standard hours.
It’s a goal of Transportation Services to reduce the vehicle footprint on campus, and with the success of the Hancock shuttle route they hope to continue expanding their services. Tony encouraged all shuttle users to start using the TripShot app which tracks all MTU shuttle routes in real time and has both push and emergency notifications.
