Georgia Southern’s intercampus shuttle is a free service for GS students, faculty, and staff to travel between the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses whenever the need arises. Although it is meant to provide a functional mode of intercampus transportation for those who need it, some students have questioned the reliability of the shuttle – namely junior multimedia major Terrell Jackson Jr., and senior engineering major Raphael Dumakor.
“Overall it’s a nice experience. The only issue I’ve had has been this semester. The second [armstrong campus] departure time for the shuttle is 10:45 am. The main issue that I have noticed, along with my other friends that I have seen as well, is they have classes that are at 11:15 a.m. and we can’t take the 10:45 a.m. bus because it’s an hour and fifteen minute drive [to the Statesboro campus]. That would force us to take the 7:45 am departure time and as a result… the bus is overcrowded and it is difficult to get a seat,” said Jackson.
In fact, on August 20, he was unable to get on the shuttle because there were too many passengers that had already boarded. “One of the teachers on the bus, she began trying to make room and was asking everyone else on the bus if there were any open seats. And I waited for the bus driver, and as he arrived, he said that since there aren’t any open seats at the moment, I would have to wait for the next bus route, which would be 10:45 am. That happened to me once, but I can imagine it happened earlier this week to other students,” said Jackson.
The day after Jackson had to wait for another shuttle, he noticed that two shuttle buses had shown up on the Armstrong campus for its 7:45 a.m. departure time, and that those two shuttle buses currently continue to travel together during the first Armstrong campus departure time.
But Rapheal Dumakor does not think that this solves other problems with the intercampus shuttle.
“I have also noticed overcrowding on the 7:45 am bus. Most students have reported having to drive or take the next shuttle after that, said Dumakor. “I did notice that a second shuttle was added to that route. I do think it’s a very good addition, but my issue is that in order for students to board the second bus, the first bus has to be full. And the seats are small enough that if you had two people sitting right next to each other, in addition to their carry-on backpacks, this creates a tightly cramped space. And as a result, if you have multiple people sitting together, you have a really crowded bus.”
He also says that the shuttles should run more and make additional trips to each campus. The shuttle makes only four trips to the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses respectively.
“I think this is an issue, because if a student has a class at 9:05 am, they would have to board the 7:45 am bus. And these students that complete class around 10:00 am do not get to actually ride the shuttles back, because the next available times are around 11:00 am for students who are arriving. And the ones that actually have second classes during that time have to move on to the next trip, which is around 2:15 pm, so this institute’s a two hour wait time for students that have completed classes around 12:00 pm.,” Dumakor explained. “This causes issues, because for me particularly, I have a lot of homework to do and a lot of work I have to get completed by the time I arrive back on [the Armstrong] campus. These can only be done on my home computer, and as a result, all the time I spend in Statesboro becomes wasted time.”
After noticing these issues, Dumakor attempted to contact the Parking and Transportation department on the Statesboro campus, sending an email which tallied the problems that he and other students experienced with the Intercampus shuttle. Although he never received a response, he believes, “there was a way to quell these concerns by at least issuing a statement of whether or not a solution is going to be implemented.”
“I do think the number of trips should be increased, because students are severely restricted by when they can actually visit the campuses because they only have four options now. Just as how reliable and conveniently the buses run on the Statesboro campus, something similar should be incorporated between the commute between both campuses to actually facilitate easy transfer between campuses,” Dukamor said. “Instead of having a bus run for a period of three or four hours… you can have the buses run at three hour intervals. You just have to increase the frequency of the buses running, because some students can afford to stay a bit later on campus for another hour or two. Some students cannot afford that.”
We have reached out for comment from Parking and Transportation and have not received a response.
