BUS service unreliable, students say

‘I usually take the T, but since it’s a nice day I figured I’d wait here for the BU bus,’ College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Marcella Sacco said. ‘Especially since I knew it wasn’t going to come quickly.’

Many Boston University students, like Sacco, spend far too much time waiting for the BU Shuttle because it is often unreliable, they said. Although the BUS website has a chart showing wait times improvements from last year to this year, students said they are still frustrated.

‘I work in the Medical Campus and I waited for almost 20 minutes when it should have been there five minutes after I got to the stop,’ College of General Studies sophomore Kenneth Karas said.

Currently, during peak-time weekday hours, six buses circulate both campuses and three circulate during off-peak times, Parking and Transportation Services Director Dwight Atherton said. On Fridays, five buses travel between campuses with two buses en route on weekends.

During peak times in the morning and evening, the BUS has reduced wait times by two minutes Monday through Thursday, and eight minutes on Fridays, according to the chart.

Students said even with these improvements, the wait time is still far too long and inconsistent.

School of Management senior Taleen Dimirdjian said he normally takes the BUS because it stops at convenient locations but has been disappointed with the service.

‘Lately, I’ve been really stressed out by it because it never comes on time,’ he said.

Atherton said the BUS Twitter account already has 90 followers after just a couple weeks.

‘We find that a strong number given the fact that we made no announcement about its availability. It’s an experiment and we’ll just have to see how well it works,’ Atherton said.

CGS sophomore Ericson Shi said he had no idea the BUS had a Twitter page.

‘I use the BUS all the time so I think it will help now that I can look at updates on Twitter,’ he said.

Construction on Bay State Road, Silber Way, and Deerfield Street in East Campus forced the BUS to change route through Kenmore this past summer, BUS drivers said.

‘The BUS now goes through Kenmore Square because of construction,’ Jean Saide, a BUS driver of two years, said. ‘Bay State Road is quicker because you don’t hit the traffic in Kenmore Square.’

Saide said the normal BUS route takes about 15 minutes to complete but it can sometimes take up to 45 minutes to get from one end of campus to another.

‘We try to have a bus at a stop every ten minutes but traffic causes the most delays,’ he said.

The former stop on Silber Way outside of the School of Education has been moved due to the ongoing construction, Atherton said.

‘ ‘The ‘new’ stop was already in frequent use to avoid Bay State Road travel restrictions,’ he said. ‘The change served to permanently clarify the situation.’