Riders of Lafayette College’s arts campus shuttle now have the opportunity to earn a free treat for their trips up and down the hill, with the release of a new punch card program this semester.
Students will receive one punch per ride on the free arts shuttle, according to the college’s arts campus website. After completing the card with seven punches, students can exchange it for a food item of up to $7 in value at ECO Café.
Katherine Groo, a film and media studies professor and newly-appointed director of the arts, said she developed the initiative after recognizing a lack of awareness towards the shuttle. Groo, alongside members of the college dining department, also realized the program would reduce the college’s carbon footprint by encouraging students not to drive their own vehicles.
“We think it’s a more ecological solution for the moment than students driving their individual cars down to campus,” Groo said.
Groo said she talked to other faculty around the arts campus, and her colleagues echoed these concerns.
“I think that we wanted to make it something that was the simplest version of itself,” said Director of Art Marketing Marta Kepka, who is responsible for marketing the program. “The punch card serves as the voucher and the communication tool and the advertisement, it’s all in one sort of card.”
So far, the dining staff has received one complete punch card from a student who exchanged it for a smoothie, according to Karen Weigand, a dining supervisor who works in ECO.
One of the biggest goals of the program is to make the shuttle and the punch card program visible to students unaware of the arts campus, according to Groo.
“A touch point was just to make sure that first-year students who are new to campus actually understood that we had the shuttle,” she said.
Both Groo and Kepka said that student feedback has been largely positive, though some students expressed hesitancy about using a paper card.
“I really love the idea,” said Parth Mahajan ‘27, a film and media studies major with three classes at the arts campus this semester. “But I do think that maybe the idea of a physical card might be a little dated. Maybe some kind of way of doing it digitally might be a little more accessible.”
Theater major Jack Finegold ‘28 said he is looking forward to receiving a reward after completing his first card, but he worried he may forget to show his card to the shuttle driver.
“I’ve kind of seen the punch card program in the dining halls,” said Claribella Perez ‘26, an employee of the Office of Sustainability who has a class at the arts campus this semester. “It’s interesting to see it now being extended to other areas of the Lafayette campus.”
“Many students said to me, like, ‘Isn’t it more ecological to walk?’ Groo said. “And it’s like, please, yes, use your bodies.”
“But if you’re making the choice between riding your individual car by yourself or taking the shuttle, we should use the shuttle,” she said.