In Partnerships with Communities

Transportation and University Communities Conference
June 16, 2002

Good Morning. It is my pleasure to welcome you here to the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst for this important conference on Transportation and University Communities. It is fitting that you are here, in particular because of the way we think about this UMass community.

Last fall at a breakfast we have traditionally had for several decades now at the beginning of the school year, I thought it was appropriate to pause and define what I have come to understand as community. I’d like to share that with you today.

I think of a community as a place where together people agree to live in a vital and constructive interdependency; where people matter; where there is a tacit agreement to create opportunities and seek solutions to challenges together; where growth in one part of the community enhances vitality in another; where together people commit and recommit to identifying and living shared values.

So you see why I think it most fitting that you are here.

I’d like to thank the American Public Transportation Association for their support of this community’s segment of the nation’s transportation network.

Universities and their communities offer many unique opportunities for operations, research, and community partnerships. UMass has been dedicated to public transportation since 1969. And although many challenges and risks have presented themselves along the way, the support of the administration over time in conjunction with that student governments has allowed the system to evolve and to grow into one of the most successful programs at UMass while providing essential services to our campus, the five college network, and the eight local communities our buses serve.

I could point out some of the highlights of UMass Transit. In fact, doing so is a good reminder for those of us who have, perhaps, taken for granted the many advantages it affords this UMass community:

• We carry 2.8 million passengers each year
• We carry 18,000 passengers a day during the academic year
• Our buses log 920,000 miles per year
• Our special transportation provides 20,000 trips per year in lift-equipped vans and another 1,000 for special field trips
• We provide support for 200 student drivers per year with a $1.8 million student payroll

So you see, UMass Transit, like many university transit systems, is a primary lifeline for creating partnerships in its community. And this community is noted for many community partnerships:

• Five Colleges, Inc (UMass, Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, Smith)
• The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority
• The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
• The Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts
• The Town of Amherst Chamber of Commerce
• The Town/Gown partnerships with Amherst and Hadley

See how appropriate it is that you are here? This conference promises to be full and full of exciting conversations from which yet other partnerships might emerge. I wish you full sail. Again, welcome to the University of Massachusetts Amherst Community.

Marcellette G. Williams
Chancellor