There are many frustrating aspects to life. You wore open-toed shoes and today is the first day it has rained in months. You’re at the dining hall, eager to receive the last serving of pasta, only for it to run out right when you get to the front of the line. Your roommate, who has the inability to lower their voice when they’re on the phone, calls home right when you’re about to study for your exam tomorrow.
But from the very depths of my soul, I can solemnly say that nothing has frustrated me quite as much as the campus shuttle schedules.
I understand that having access to the buses is a privilege, that it makes getting from one place to another so much more convenient. However, if I spend half my time walking everywhere anyways, I don’t feel like I’m benefiting at all.
And you may ask, if such a great amenity has been readily bestowed upon me, then why don’t I use it to its full potential? Because the bus schedule is many things, so I’ll tell you what it isn’t. Reliable. On-time. Consistent.
I cannot tell you the number of times I have looked meticulously at the bus schedule and arrived five minutes before its scheduled arrival. From there, it’s a coin toss. Tails, the bus is running 10 minutes late even though TransLoc is trying to tell me the bus is halfway across town. Heads, the bus arrived, stopped for 30 seconds, and zoomed away. On the off chance the coin lands on its side, I happily board the bus and make it to my destination.
Speaking of making it to my destination, that’s a gamble as well. Lately, a lot of the buses don’t have a pull line, which you normally pull before your stop. And stops that are said to be guaranteed do not happen unless you request the bus driver to stop. And in an attitude of complete nihilism, the presence of a pull line doesn’t even really matter — there was an instance where I pulled the line at the movie theater, and the bus still did not stop. When the bus driver was informed they missed the stop, I dropped off three streets away from my location in the dark. It was a cold, miserable walk to the theater.
That day, I was left waiting at the theater as well. Bus after bus passed, because no one had noted that students had been dropped off there. Therefore, an unnecessary Uber was the only option to get home. And you may think, hey, they missed the stop, right? So they just forgot to stop at the theater because they didn’t know anyone had been dropped off there?
I went to the theater again a few weeks later. Pulled the line and got dropped off at the right location. And place your bets, folks. Did the bus come to pick me up, or did I have to walk to the Walmart stop down the street and wait half an hour in the dark for a UR shuttle to appear?
It was the latter.
At this point, my only trusted shuttle is the beloved Silver Line. And yes, this is because it only travels within campus.
All I ask is that if you offer shuttle services, and take the time to make a set schedule for multiple buses for multiple locations, then please uphold your promises. Does Meliora only have to apply to the students, when the shuttle system is miles from being “ever better?”
