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Students voice dissatisfaction with BUS
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Limited parking, fines and the occasional traffic nightmare: Three reasons why many off-campus Boise State students have taken to riding the commuter bus. Yet many report dissatisfaction with the service.
Due to student dissatisfaction, Kirk Montgomery, operations manager at Boise Urban Stages, is considering restructuring the BUS program, which would take place over the next 12 to 18 months.
Grant Jones, transit operations director at BUS, said he is trying to leverage their budget as much as possible. Due to declining tax revenues, Jones is looking for advertising dollars to help expand services.
He said a major company such as Coca-Cola may be interested in advertising space on the Bronco shuttle, and he is looking at other options as well.
Jones said BUS is taking “strides” internally to make sure that BSU students are pleased with the service. He also said BUS service has “tried to embrace the BSU culture and be a part of BSU.”
Mary Kluck, a regular commuter, is one of many BSU students who wait an hour to ride the bus home during the afternoon. She says she cannot catch it before it leaves, because the bus departs from in front of the Administration Building 10 minutes after class gets out. During peak hours from 10:40 a.m. to 2:40 p.m., the bus comes at hourly intervals.
Sherry Jo Crondall, a life-long bus commuter, is among those who feel that bus routes are limited. In order for bus services to improve, she says more commuters must utilize existing bus services. Crondall thinks more effective advertising is needed.
Crondall said lack of information may be one of the biggest problems facing mass-transportation. Also, many students do not seem to know about ACHD Commuteride programs such as Guaranteed Ride Home and Transi-Cheks, which are meant to encourage public transportation.
The former provides registered commuters with a taxi ride at no charge in the case of an emergency, and the latter is meant as an incentive for people to use mass-transit systems.
Bonni Kilion is in charge of distributing information about these programs at BSU. Kilion said her efforts to advertise are hampered by the fact that much of the advertising space on campus is reserved for other purposes – clubs and organizations, for example.
Most of the information available concerning alternate transportation is found in brochures distributed at the information desks in the SUB and at the Campus Safety Office. Kilion said she doubts many students read the brochures.
For more information about alternative transportation at http://www.boise- state.edu/parking/altrans.html.
Jeremy Branstad, The Arbiter
