By Karin Eagle
Native Sun News Staff Writer KYLE - In an effort to truly engage students through a decentralized campus, Oglala Lakota College (OLC) is taking advantage of the resources available on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe received a $2.2 million grant in 2006 for the construction of a transit center based just east of Pine Ridge Village, and for the purchase of buses. In February of 2009, the OST Transit system opened with fixed routes across the reservation, seeing 204 passengers their first month. The OST DOT Transit Program is comprised of seventeen employees that include the Coordinator, an office manager, maintenance support technician, a dispatcher, twelve bus drivers and a mechanic. There are also positions available to place workers on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) that provides the receptionist, filing and cleaning of the facility. OLC has a total of nine districts centers on the reservation, serving students across the reservation. There is one college center located in Rapid City as well as in Eagle Butte, to help spread the access to higher education to students living off the reservation. The bus schedule can be found in Native Sun News each month especially if there are any changes to the routes. To address that need, OLC offers a number of options for the students, including distance learning, gas vouchers for traveling to and from centers for classes, and now the use of the transit system. Each student who chooses to utilize the transit system contacts their home college center, where they are registered. There are forms that need to be signed by the driver of the bus, verifying that the student has used the transit for the time specified. Due to the extreme poverty of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation many residents do not have automobiles and in the absence of Oglala Sioux Transit must often pay another individual to transport them to their destination. Many of these travelers are the elderly and disabled. A transit study/survey conducted for the OST Short Range Transit Plan (December 2002) indicates that the lack of a public transportation system hinders individuals on the Reservation in accessing employment, medical appointments, conducting business, shopping and attending college classes. Oglala Sioux Transit is increasingly meeting the needs of many of these persons as the program has matured and become more widely known. Students are designated as anyone in attendance at an academic institution from Kindergarten through College. Some of the Student riders could be considered as Adults or Senior citizens, but a passenger can designate themselves as a student if they have an Identification Card (i.e. college students) so they can receive the $1.00 off the fare. (Contact Karin Eagle at staffwriter@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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