An indoor waiting area for patrons of GW’s shuttle services opened Jan. 14. to accommodate passengers waiting for a shuttle during late-night and weekend hours. The new indoor waiting area, located in the ground floor lobby of Funger Hall (in the 2200 block of G Street), is adjacent to the main Foggy Bottom shuttle stop for the Vern Express, the Virginia Science and Technology Campus shuttle and the GW Morning Parking Shuttle to the Kennedy Center garage (which runs from 6 to 10 a.m.).
The new waiting area allows passengers with a GWorld card to enter the lobby of Funger Hall during late-night and weekend hours when the building is closed so they can wait for the next shuttle to arrive. As always, if a shuttle is present, passengers are able to wait on the shuttle until its scheduled departure.
The university added GWorld card readers on Funger Hall’s entry points and installed mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access from the lobby to other areas of the building, said Robert Defendini, executive director of transportation and parking services. The new system means that Funger Hall’s security is maintained, while providing the indoor waiting area for GW community members.
All students, faculty and staff GWorld card holders will have access to the lobby. People who currently have after-hours building access into other areas of Funger Hall beyond the lobby will continue to have their existing access privileges throughout the building.
“With the start of the new semester, we know students will have new reasons to visit the Vern, and the times of demand for shuttles will change,” Mr. Defendini said. “We'll continue to monitor the service over the next couple of weeks to see how it’s working and will make refinements as needed.”
Mr. Defendini said he’s eager to hear from GW community members about their experiences with the shuttles.
“This is a great example of listening to our customer feedback and taking action to provide the services requested by the students,” he said. “We always welcome customer ideas, and I enjoy reading emails from students, faculty and staff.” Comments may be submitted to parking
gwu [dot] edu (parking[at]gwu[dot]edu).