You keep peeping your head around the corner to see if it’s coming. Every time the sound of a car passes you cross your fingers and hope that it has finally made it. Still, you find yourself gazing down at your phone only to discover that you’ve been sitting in the frigid Connecticut elements for over 20 minutes, and there’s still no sign of it. We’ve all heard it and probably said it ourselves a few times, “Where is the shuttle!?”
Between Whitney Lot, Westwoods, Whitney Village and York Hill, the shuttle system thus far has been nothing short of a disaster. Students are finding themselves waiting on the cold, stiff benches for over a half-hour just so they can get back to their car or room at a decent time. No one doubts that the shuttle drivers are doing the best that they can to get everyone where they need to be as efficiently as possible. Besides, who’s really going to yell at Maxine? We all know she’ll yell back and probably be a lot more intimidating anyway. However, it’s a little difficult not to get aggravated when you are constantly sprinting to class and having to explain to your professor that you would’ve been on time if the shuttle hadn’t taken so long.
To make matters worse, up until about two weeks ago, there were no signs distinguishing which shuttles were going to which locations. We now have short shuttles, long shuttles, DATTCO buses and Quinnipiac buses, but no clarification whatsoever as to which shuttle goes to where. Do I really need to knock on the door of each and every shuttle just to find out which one can bring me where I need to be?
What’s even worse is when you find yourself waiting with dozens of other students for a certain shuttle, and still find yourself being denied a ride to where everyone is trying to go. Kids are begging the empty bus to just bring them three minutes down the road, and still can’t seem to catch a break. I don’t understand why the shuttle drivers specifically need to go to their one location when it would clearly benefit everyone to just drive to the one dorm or parking lot that everyone is waiting for.
Another frequent occurrence seems to be that the shuttles travel in packs. Yes, you’ll wait your fair share of minutes, but when the shuttle finally does show up it’s bringing its friends along too. Instead of spacing themselves out, thus getting more people where they need to be quicker, they miraculously always seem to find each other and pull in one after another.
Yes, I am grateful that our school is providing us with a shuttle system to get us where we need to be without the use of our car. But with the aggravation and frustration that it seems to be causing most students makes it hardly seem worth the convenience.
