A student waits in line for the NYU Route E bus outside her dorm. The bus was supposed to be there at 10.35 a.m., however it’s almost 15 minutes late and the bus is still 4 blocks away. The bus finally arrives but the driver snaps at the students to be quick about getting on the bus.
Most of the upperclassmen dorms are more than 10 to 15 blocks from campus; therefore there are a few thousand students who rely on the NYU shuttles for their convenience. Alas, the transportation services have caused more grief than happiness for a certain percentage of the NYU student population. The top concerns, or rather complaints, are that the drivers can be rude, rash and unconcerned about time.
“I’ve been yelled at a number of times by drivers if I don’t have my NYU ID out as soon as I step on to the bus,” states Tisch sophomore, Shelby Slauer. “I get that sometimes I’m holding people up but it honestly just takes an extra 3 seconds. I don’t understand why some of the bus drivers have to be so rude! They’re the ones who’re late already! I’m already 5 minutes late to class, so I can’t care about those 3 seconds.” And like Ms Slauer, a number of students have taken it upon themselves to express their discontent of the buses being late and behind schedule. Students have tweeted about the buses being late during weeks of midterms or finals. Some have tweeted about having to take cabs because the buses are late. One female student clearly expressed her discomfort about being late to class saying, “How do NYU bus drivers think it’s acceptable to be 15 minutes late on their route? Do you want to write a note to my professor for me or…?” (https://twitter.com/colleen_gordon/status/561186743228329985).
What students do not know is that they can submit complaints to the Transportation department at NYU. Further yet, the IRHC (Inter-Residential Hall Council) hosts a ‘Town Hall’ meeting to air grievances about campus life. The Town Hall meeting includes a panel of managers and Greg Rivas, the Manager of Transportation Services is on this panel. If a student wants to complain to him directly however, it isn’t easy to find his name as it isn’t on the webpage of Transportation Services nor does it show up on a simple Google search. Residential Assistants have been spreading the word about this event, as the bus system is a common topic of dissatisfaction among students.
NYU has a set schedule for these buses. There are about 6 bus routes, out of which 5 run on weekdays and 1 on weekends. The schedule can be picked up from any dorms and is also available on two different apps- the regular NYU guide app and a specific NYU bus tracker. Both maps show real time locations of the bus and when the bus is supposed to arrive at every stop. However, students complain that half the time, the buses don’t even leave from campus according to the schedule. The NYU bus tracker app can account for this. “I check the app and it shows that the Route F bus that I want to take hasn’t even left, even though it was supposed to like 5 minutes ago,” says Matt Russell, a sophomore as he stands in line outside his dorm on 3rd Avenue. “Most of the time, I end up walking to school but if it’s raining like it is today, I just wait. I don’t want to spend money on the subway and I definitely don’t want to get ill walking to school.”
Social media, especially Twitter, has proven to be a widely used platform for students to convey their bus dilemmas. Ranging from drivers skipping stops to drivers almost running people over, students are not afraid to express their disappointment. One student tweeted in February about almost being run over by a bus— “.@nyuniversity A #NYU bus almost ran me over at Morton & Greenwich bc she ran a stop sign. Driver waved her finger no at me. #baddrivers” (https://twitter.com/boldsubtleties/status/562987284795240450).
Katie Semple, a Therapy major complained about how some drivers skip stops- even if the bus is not full. “The drivers are supposed to stop at every bus stop shown on the route—no matter if someone requests the stop or not. I’ve seen many people miss their stop, especially the one on 14th street and 3rd avenue and I’m sure it’s quite frustrating. I’ve even seen people run after the bus at times at the 14th street stop and the driver just dismisses them.” Another tweet by a student said, “watches the nyu bus drive past my stop” (https://twitter.com/pavaal/status/560837578069647360).
Yet another common complaint is that if a bus is early at a stop, sometimes it leaves early too and doesn’t follow the schedule. John Panzures, an Economics major recalled how he missed the bus a few times because he followed the schedule but the bus arrived early without warning and left before it was supposed to. “By the time I could get into the elevator and rush to the exit, it was 3 blocks away. I wasn’t that late to class but who wants to walk all the way to campus at 7.30 a.m.!”, stated Panzures. Someone on twitter had a similar problem as well tweeting, “Dear NYU bus system if you’re going to run early at least wait until the time you’re supposed to be at the stop before leaving #disgruntled” (https://twitter.com/mamabearjer/status/572566418916556800)
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