<p>Couple of questions for the students here... as to off-campus housing. Are there areas around campus (north, west, etc.) that are more or less desirable, more or less safe? The further from campus you get, the more people ride bikes I would assume? And what about the tram service? Who uses that? Is it reliable? Convenient? Do the routes cover all the areas where students might live?
TIA for answers...</p>
<p>My husband said there is a dividing line off campus between where it is o.k. and where the area is not as nice. I don’t know which street(s) are part of the dividing line.</p>
<p>Most people live north of campus between the north-south streets Vermont and Figueroa. Some live west of campus between the east-west streets Jefferson and Exposition. Some live in apartments or lofts downtown and drive to school.</p>
<p>[Tram</a> Maps & Schedules](<a href=“http://transnet.usc.edu/transit/routes.aspx]Tram”>http://transnet.usc.edu/transit/routes.aspx) </p>
<p>I’ve seen maps of the tram routes before, but maybe because it’s summer it’s not up.</p>
<p>Sorry, I’m too lazy/busy to look up the details, but the school has agreed with the surrounding community to focus campus related growth to the North and East so as to reduce the impact on the more residential areas in terms of rental rates etc. Consequently the school provides services like Tram, Campus Cruiser and DPS patrol only within it’s agreed impact footprint. You can look at the USC web site to find the map of the coverage area for campus cruiser.</p>
<p>Most students believe that the areas outside of this boundary are less safe. I can’t say for sure whether or not that is true. There are many more student related incidents within the DPS patrol zone than outside of it, but that’s where the students are. I’ve lived well outside of the DPS patrol area for two years and commuted by bike and even foot at all hours without incident, yet. However, Campus Cruiser is a great service and may be well worth the 20% rent premium for living inside its coverage area. I know students who use it nightly year around.</p>
<p>most students live on the north area. rent is more expensive there because the row is there and most of the off campus university owned housing is there. there are several tram stops around that area.</p>
<p>I did find an (old?) tram map on the back of a campus map, and that’s helpful… it looks like the area west of campus is virtually ignored… which makes sense according to the post above… whereas going north, the tram goes even all the way several blocks north of Adams… okay that’s pretty much what I needed to know. ReallyOldSchool… when you say well outside the area, how far “well outside” are you, if you commute in by bicycle… ?? Just curious. :)</p>
<p>I consider anything north of Adams pretty far from campus and a bike is a must. There is USC owned housing just around Adams, so it’s still considered North University Park, but it’s pretty far.</p>
<p>try not to go west (walking around there freaks me out abit actually) and beyond adams north unless you have some mode of transportation like ^ said.</p>