The bus systems suck. As a student who lives in an apartment building at the back of campus, it’s annoying to have to leave my apartment 40 minutes before my class starts at 9 in the morning just so I can catch the bus.
The system is so unreliable and slow. It makes a stop once every half an hour, and when the bus gets to the stop, it sits there for 10 to 15 minutes. For instance, I was lucky enough to get on the bus at 8:40 a.m. yesterday only for it to sit there for 20 minutes, making me to late to class. What boggles my mind is how the bus drivers don’t think that most of the students on the bus are going to a class that starts at the top of the hour. Sometimes, the drivers will get off the bus and take a walk, listen to their music, talk on the phone or go to the C-store to get coffee, food, etc., leaving all of the students on the bus to wonder when he or she is going to come back.
The bus system is unreliable. Sometimes it takes longer than 20 minutes, and then we find out the bus broke down somewhere on campus. Sometimes the buses will switch, and the drivers will make all the riders on one bus get off and get on to another bus. Everything about the bus system is so unorganized.
I know you’re probably wondering, why don’t I just walk to class? It’s getting cold outside, and I have winter allergies that make my face and eyes look like I’ve been smoking crack when I’m out in the cold walking for too long.
Indiana University, while a much bigger school, has a bus system that works effeciently, and they even have a cell phone app that tells students where the buses are on campus. These changes seem like something USI could easily implement, and is something that the Student Government Association has brought up many times.
All I ask is that the bus system speeds up. A bus doesn’t need to stay at a stop for 15-20 minutes. It can pick up the students that are waiting at the stop and go to the next one. It’s inconvenient, and I, and other students, don’t pay a $90 transportation and parking fee every semester for the buses to travel slower than it takes me to walk to campus.
