Financing for the Brown Route, the CyRide circuit that runs from the Towers Residence Association to campus, may be handed over to Towers residents next fall.

The TRA senate passed a bill 21-12 at its meeting this week to put a $35 fee on each Towers resident’s room and board rates to pay for the route. TRA President Bill Wychulis said he will give the bill to Director of Residence Randy Alexander. If the department approves the bill, it then will be sent to the Board of Regents for its approval.

The Department of Residence currently pays $55,000 per year for the Brown Route. However, the Government of the Student Body allocated $15,000 for the route earlier this year so the buses could continue on their regular schedules.

Wychulis said the fee will not be charged to Towers residents until the Department of Residence and the Board of Regents approves it. If Towers residents pay the fee, TRA will collect about $70,000 for the route.

“We’d be looking at putting the extra into a savings account,” he said. “We’re hoping the interest would pay for the Brown Route or go towards lowering the cost of the Brown Route.”

Wychulis said a clause was put into the bill, allowing it to be reviewed every year.

“The senate can decide if it is what they want to keep doing or look at other options,” he said. Wychulis said another possibility could be to have students vote on the fee during spring TRA elections.

Nathan Randt, vice president for Raymond House in Storms Hall, said the bill is best for Towers residents.

“I feel it would be a better deal for people living out at Towers,” said Randt, author of the bill. “It would be better for the Towers to pay for the Brown Route themselves.”

Jason Hahn, TRA senator and a primary sponsor of the bill, said alternative plans — including one that would have residents buy $65 bus passes — factored into his reasoning.

“Realistically, that didn’t fit the needs of Towers residents because the lack of passes bought would result in declining frequencies of buses out here,” he said. “A lot of people rely on buses to get to campus.”

Not all ISU students are in favor of the bill.

“I’m personally against it, but I can see why people would be for it,” said Erin Mitchell, junior in management information systems and marketing and TRA resident. “I don’t ride the bus.”

Dave Sims, president of the Inter-Residence Hall Association, said he is pleased with how TRA has handled this issue. IRHA had already decided to leave the Brown Route up to TRA.

“When it comes to this issue, clearly, it’s based on an idea of portionalities. This would fall under Towers, not IRHA,” he said.

Sims said the $55,000 the department currently uses for the Brown Route could be used for something else if TRA pays for the route.

“It’s more adequate to use that set-aside money to benefit all the residents,” he said. “It’s there for [IRHA’s] discretion how we want to give it back to the students. Right now, it affects a third of the students, but all the students pay for it.”

Sims said IRHA is looking into other ways to spend the money.

While approval of both the Department of Residence and the Board of Regents is needed for the fee to become a reality, Sims doesn’t believe that will be a problem.

“The DOR would probably agree to it based on the fact that it got a majority of the vote,” he said. “[The senators] talked to their constituents. It shouldn’t be a problem having that moved into the room and board rate for students moving into Towers.”