Merged South Campus bus route frustrates students
Bus routes servicing South Campus have changed, leading to overcrowding and a general frustration among students who live there.
Instead of running a Winding Ridge and Slocum Heights route separately like in previous years, the routes are now combined after 10 a.m., allowing Syracuse University to reduce the number of buses running each day, said Scot Vanderpool, manager of parking and transit services at SU in an email.
Vanderpool said the decision to combine the routes was budget related. Vanderpool also said that with one route instead of two, officials have increased the frequency of service to campus so that a bus arrives at stops every seven minutes instead of every 12.
‘We’re doing more with less,’ he said.
Students living on South Campus, especially those near stops close to the end of the route, said it has been exceptionally difficult getting to class on time because the buses are so full that they skip the last few stops and head straight back to Main Campus.
Vanderpool said the university has received few complaints about the change and, if there are any problems, they will make corrections. South Campus buses are being monitored this week, he said.
Centro could not reached to comment by The Daily Orange.
Kristal Carter, a sophomore acting major, said she chose to live on Slocum Heights this year so she would have more room and was excited to have classes that didn’t start so early in the morning. But Carter said she has to get up just as early as last year because multiple buses pass her stop every morning and leave her stranded for at least 30 minutes at a time.
‘I have to wake up wicked early to get to classes on time, or when I’m at class I’m an hour early because of the bus route,’ Carter said. ‘It’s kind of annoying.’
Other South Campus residents share Carter’s displeasure. Natalie Mulford, an undecided sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, compared the South Campus and College Place bus stops to a mob scene. She said that people were pushing their way onto the buses because they were sick of being passed.
‘It’s not horrible, but it’s definitely an inconvenience,’ Mulford said.
Beverly Ibeh, a junior psychology major, walks to Manley Field House every morning from her apartment on Lambreth Lane to try and get on a bus, she said.
Ibeh said: ‘Even if you come a little earlier to the bus, if it’s full and then they pass you twice, you’re already late.’
Published on September 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm
