{"id":27211,"date":"2023-08-22T09:09:22","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T13:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=27211"},"modified":"2023-08-22T11:34:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T15:34:53","slug":"zane-newells-sustainability-internship-helps-greenville-transit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/zane-newells-sustainability-internship-helps-greenville-transit\/","title":{"rendered":"Zane Newell&#8217;s sustainability internship helps Greenville transit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aug. 11 marked Zane Newell\u2019s last day of an internship with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenvillesc.gov\/151\/Greenlink-Transit\">Greenlink<\/a>, the City of Greenville\u2019s public transportation system. But no one wanted him to leave. It\u2019s a clear sign things went well.<\/p>\n<p>Newell \u201924, a sustainability science major from Salt Lake City, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/\">The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities\u2019<\/a> Public Transit and Pedestrian Connectivity Fellow. And while the benefits of a college internship are many for both the intern and the employer, it\u2019s fair to say Greenlink got more than it bargained for.<\/p>\n<p>In just 10 weeks, Newell:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Crafted a database of more than 450 bus stops to record sidewalk connectivity<\/li>\n<li>Created an upgrade priority program for the stops based on factors such as equity, safety, and accessibility, including accommodation for wheelchair users<\/li>\n<li>Mapped Greenlink\u2019s existing bus routes and made the map available to the public<\/li>\n<li>Conducted more than 200 in-person surveys of riders in English and Spanish to update ridership demographic data, an important component for securing grant funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nearing Newell\u2019s final day at Greenlink, Kayleigh Cleek, transit planning manager, often heard people from across divisions at the agency ask, \u201c\u2019Can we please keep Zane on staff?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe proved to be resourceful and ambitious,\u201d said Cleek, noting Newell\u2019s research skills and GIS toolkit he brought with him from Furman coursework. \u201cZane has an innate ability to balance self-sufficiency with reliance on expertise of those around him. This will serve him well in future roles,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Newell came away from the experience with a newfound appreciation for public transit and the importance of walkable communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic transit is an essential public service,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels meaningful to be able to help out with that because if the bus wasn\u2019t running, a lot of people wouldn\u2019t be able to get to work, the store or doctor\u2019s appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The internship hit closer to home when Newell realized that without Greenlink, many Furman staff members wouldn\u2019t have a way to get to work. Likewise, his inventory of sidewalk conditions and connectivity revealed large swaths of roadways where sidewalks don\u2019t exist at all, such as along Poinsett Highway. \u201cThat\u2019s the main way staff are coming into Furman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Newell said the study allowed him to view Greenville through an entirely new lens while sharpening his data collection and manipulation skills using mapping software. From start to finish, he designed what data would be collected, how it would be collected, and the way it would be synthesized and presented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to get such an in-depth experience,\u201d Newell said. \u201cIt gives me a case study of sorts for a lot of the work I\u2019m doing in class.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newell, who plans to enroll in a master\u2019s program after graduating to study urban planning, also spoke to the value a dedicated intern lends an organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s working very hard and juggling several projects at once,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t think anyone necessarily would have had the time to go and survey 450 bus stops. I think that\u2019s the value an intern brings to a project like this. That while it\u2019s important, it just may not get done unless you have an intern doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cleek knows well how interns can impact operations. In 2019 she worked with Furman alumni Natalie Anderson \u201919 and Nate Bilodeau \u201920 on a database to pinpoint bus stop upgrades, a project that eventually led to nearly $6 million in federal funding to shore up ADA compliance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t overemphasize the importance of the work Zane did not only for Greenlink, but for all of Greenville County,\u201d she said. \u201cI plan to use Zane\u2019s work for grant applications to support infrastructure improvements that ensure accessibility to and from every bus stop for Greenlink riders. We are working toward a more accessible Greenville for all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>See related story about Furman&#8217;s history with Greenlink advocacy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2019\/06\/17\/greenlink-funding-iach-advocacy\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An internship is a win-win for all parties involved. Zane Newell served as The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities&#8217; Public Transit and Pedestrian Connectivity Fellow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":27219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17,37,65,58,18,9,61],"tags":[2238,2239,2235,2236,2240,2237],"class_list":["post-27211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-centers-and-institutes","category-earth-environmental-and-sustainability-sciences","category-institute-for-the-advancement-of-community-health","category-internships","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities","category-sustainability","category-the-furman-advantage","tag-accessibility","tag-bus-stops","tag-greenlink","tag-public-transportation","tag-sidewalks","tag-walkable-cities"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}