Not all of the students are able to fit on this bus. Several of them must get off and wait for another bus.
During peak times, students swarm the bus stops around high-traffic areas such as the Tate center. After much squeezing and squashing, busses are filled to capacity and riders are turned away to try their luck on another bus. Some think that this is a problem that needs to be solved, while others see it as simply the natural order of things on Georgia’s largest campus.
“I think they need more busses because during class changes, they’re way overcrowded,” Amy Hayes, a senior Spanish major from Marietta, Ga., said. “And even when you don’t get a warning from Oasis during registration, it may be impossible to get to your class on time because you either can’t fit on a bus or they don’t come frequently enough.”
The University of Georgia does issue warnings over its online class registration application, Oasis, when it deems that certain classes may be too far apart for students to get to on time.
Ron Hamlin, campus transit manager at the university, has been here almost 20 years. He has seen lots of changes as the campus, and its transportation system, has grown.
“The transit system is performing well,” Hamlin said, though he added, “There are always places we could improve. When people are asking you for more, you know you’re doing something right.”
Hamlin says that the university is at a “saturation point” for vehicles on campus. At this point, adding more busses would only add to the traffic.
The transportation system has room to grow in the peripheral area around the campus as the campus itself grows.
“Every year we buy new busses,” Hamlin said. “The newer busses have a higher capacity.”
“I feel like there are lots of busses on campus. Every time I turn around, there are like, three busses following me!” jokes Hugo Mendez, a graduate student at the university and an instructor in a religion class this semester. “I feel like there are enough busses, but that there’s probably just more students than there are busses.”
Mendez is not surprised that many of his students show up late to class with claims that they couldn’t catch their bus. He does not punish them for it. “I figure, ‘eh, what can you do?’ It’s just the way it is.”
Hamlin hopes that the system can greatly be improved with the implementation of technology such as passenger counters and vehicle location systems installed on the busses. These systems would not only allow the bus system to manage their routes more efficiently, it would also provide its customers with up-to-date information to help them choose the fastest, most convenient route.
As for alternatives to busses such as a monorail or subway system, Hamlin doesn’t think that they would be worth the cost to improve transportation. “The beauty of busses is that as the campus grows and changes, you can change the route.”
On a campus like ours, busses can get crowded... but it’s probably nothing to get all gassed up about.
Edited by: Stacie Luke
This story has a nice conversational writing style, but it's hampered by a lack of facts. You can actually answer the question in your headline with some reporting. What is the capacity of a typical UGA bus? Does the transportation system track ridership and crowding? How many times a day and on how many routes are buses over capacity and forced to turn students away? These questions aren't a matter of opinion. There is likely accessible information that can provide tangible answers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, mind your spelling. What's the preferred plural for bus?