Sodexho employees will now be able to enjoy one of the perks TCU students, faculty and staff often take for granted – the use of TCU identification cards to use Fort Worth transportation for free.As of last week, Sodexho employees who work with TCU Dining Services did not have university IDs.
Chancellor Victor Boschini said he was not aware that the employees did not have IDs.
“I thought everyone had them,” Boschini said.
Shelley Story, assistant dean of Campus Life, said she realized the problem while having a conversation with an employee in Frog Bytes.
“She was fretting because she needed to buy a bus ticket and didn’t have enough time,” Story said.
Story said university employees will receive ID cards that will allow them to ride the T bus service free of charge, a service neglected by many in the TCU community.
“It hit me that if she were a TCU employee, she would never have to buy a bus ticket,” Story said.
Demise Woodard, an employee in Frog Bytes, said the bus is more convenient for those who lack a car to drive to work in the mornings and said many of the Sodexho employees do not have a car.
After asking around, Story said, she discovered that there was no reason why TCU could not offer IDs as a benefit to Sodexho employees.
University employees said the IDs will provide more convenience on their way to work.
Woodard said there is a need for the IDs because there is a substantial number of employees that do take the bus to work.
The university IDs will have the same look of the student and faculty/staff IDs but will say “associate.”
“It will not offer them access to buildings or any of the other privileges that come with a student ID,” Story said.
Story said the IDs will mainly be used for riding the bus.
“It will allow them to show to the bus drivers that they work at TCU so that they can ride for free,” Story said.
Story said she had been working on getting the employees IDs for less than four weeks when she first had the idea.
Now all employees have to do to receive their ID is go to the ID center, according to a memo sent out last week.
Boschini said university employees receiving IDs is something that should have been happening all along.
“I think IDs are great,” Boschini said. “Everyone should have one.