HGC Proposes Resolution to Extend Van Services to Longwood Following Student Complaints

The Harvard Graduate Council proposed a resolution at a Monday night meeting requesting the University provide van service to Longwood after several students at Harvard Medical School complained about transportation accessibility issues.

During the meeting, Harvard School of Public Health student Alexis Miranda and Sarah Broas, a first year Ph.D. student, expressed frustration that Harvard’s daytime van service did not extend to the Longwood campus — saying it represented an accessibility issue.

“They’re effectively offering services only to students that are living in Cambridge and go to classes in Cambridge,” Miranda said at the meeting.

“While something like access to transportation may seem small, it limits the options we as disabled students have for finding affordable and accessible housing, where we receive medical care, and our ability to engage fully in the Harvard community,” Miranda added in an email to The Crimson.

Broas shared similar difficulties with the van service.

“Because Harvard doesn’t provide accessible door-to-door transportation to my workplace, I’ve been forced to push my body to make it to the closest M2 shuttle stop, causing a great deal of pain and flares in my symptoms,” Broas added in an email.

The HGC drafted and proposed a resolution to extend the daytime van services to provide accessible transportation for students with disabilities who live “on campus in Harvard Housing in Longwood as well as those living, working, and studying in Longwood, as per the stated purposes of the daytime van service.”

Cassidy Kasper, a spokesperson for Harvard Transportation Services, wrote in an email to The Crimson that the van service “transports members of the Harvard community within the Cambridge and Allston campuses only” and said the office welcomes feedback from affiliates.

“The Daytime Van can connect community members with other modes of transportation that will bring them to the Harvard Longwood Campus,” Kasper wrote. “For example, the Van Service can bring riders to Lamont Library, which is the Harvard Square stop for the fully accessible M2 Shuttle, operated by the Longwood Collective.

Broas said she has experienced difficulties in communicating with the transportation office.

“Students are passed around the maze of Harvard offices: from the disability access office, to financial aid, to transportation, to housing, back to the disability access office,” Broas said.

The Harvard University daytime van service is designated for individuals “who, because of physical impairment or medical condition, find it difficult or impossible to use the regular fully accessible shuttle bus,” according to its website.

“All matriculated students wishing to use the van service must be approved by their local student disability coordinator,” the website reads.

Available to faculty, staff, and students, the van functions from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays, and 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.

—Staff writer Adina R. Lippman can be reached at adina.lippman@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.