More golf carts will soon be roaming Wichita State as the university begins to update a program that aids students with disabilities on campus.

The additional golf carts are the first step in expanding a mobility assistance program that the university plans to update by the fall semester. The program, which has been around for several years, helps students with disabilities traverse the campus, providing a door-to-door transportation service.

“We’ve been working on trying to figure out, one, do we continue this program? And, two, if we continue it, how can it be accessible?” said Teri Hall, vice president for Student Affairs.

The Office of Student Accommodations & Testing currently operates the program, but increased usage by students makes it increasingly difficult for OSAT to operate.

OSAT Director Isabel Medina Keiser said her employees often have to drop what they were working on to answer student calls for rides. 

Medina Keiser said 86 students are currently registered with the program, but the usage level fluctuates.

“Some will use it daily, just depending on their disability. Some will use it when their disability kicks up,” Medina Keiser said. “… It just depends on when that person’s disability flares out, and that could be every day. That could be, you know, once a month. It just depends, but they have that option.”

Last semester, OSAT completed 304 rides, according to Medina Keiser. As of April, students have used the service more than 250 times.

Medina Keiser said the office only has two vehicles for the program: a non-ADA accessible golf cart and a van that is “about to fall apart.”

“The golf carts that we were using for student accommodations weren’t accessible,” Hall said. “If someone had a wheelchair, if someone had a walker, if someone had trouble, they couldn’t get on.”

WSU has ordered two new golf carts to help with the program, with one able to accommodate mobility aids such as walkers and wheelchairs. 

Path for growth

This summer, Parking and Transportation Services will take over the program.

“For my office … we’ll finally have more time to do the things that we need to get done,” Medina Keiser said. “Doing the rides takes up a lot of our staff’s time to be able to do that. We love doing it. We know that it’s worthwhile, but it’s like, ‘This needs to go somewhere else.’”

To help transition the program to Parking and Transportation Services, Emily Martin, director of the department, said she’s hired a transportation services coordinator, Brian Moore, who will be in charge of the transition.

That’s a role that begins next week.

“He’ll be spending these first few weeks doing a lot of research, a lot of reading, a lot of seeing what other universities do,” Martin said.

Martin said the plan is to have Moore, who is ADA certified, oversee students who will drive people to their destination.

Hall said switching from OSAT to Parking and Transportation Services will help make the program an institution at the university.

“I think it allows Student Accommodations & Testing, who’ve been running the service, to get out of that business,” Hall said. “Because it’s really not an area of expertise for them, but to really then focus on, you know, the real bread and butter issues that we need to be sustaining students with.”

With two golf carts set to arrive in June, Parking and Transportation Services and OSAT plan to work together to have the program fully transitioned and operational by fall 2025.

Martin said her department will likely mimic OSAT’s process when it comes to intake and administering rides.

Currently, the program operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Under Parking and Transportation Services, it will run from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“Students have classes often after 5 o’clock,” Hall said. “So that’s why we’ve been working to have the program transition to Parking and Transportation (Services).”

Hall and Martin said the hope is to expand the program to faculty, staff and visitors, who OSAT didn’t have the capacity or ability to offer rides to. 

“One of the things we’ve heard too, is that, you know, big events, like commencement and all those other kinds of things, that some of our folks still have mobility issues, and our handicap (ADA) parking fills up quickly,” Hall said. “… And so what can we offer? You know, what can we do for basketball games and all these other kinds of things?”

Hall asked for patience with the program’s departmental transition. She said one issue that could arise is potential confusion between the mobility assistance program and WUBER, a free ride service the university hosts during the first week of classes. 

“You see a golf cart going by, you’re not going to jump on these the same way that you would when WUBER is in session,” Hall said. “So we’ll have to work through, I think, that a little bit.”

Despite the changes, Medina Keiser said there’s still room to grow and golf carts can only do so much.

“With that being said, the golf carts (are) great in the warm weather, not in the rainy weather, and definitely not in the winter,” Medina Keiser said. 

Martin said she hopes to see the program utilized and grow in the coming years. 

“If you have that need, and we can give you that service, then let’s find a way to get you that service,” Martin said. “We’re obviously all on campus for a reason. … And if we can help, even if it’s something as basic as a golf cart ride, to get you where you need to go, then I think it’s fantastic.”