The Voice
The shuttle system has been at the root of many people’s transportation frustration throughout fall and spring semesters.
The shuttles are late. There aren’t enough shuttles. The routes don’t take people where they need to go. All of these complaints have been written in numerous letters to Public Safety, and many of our concerns have been handled.
But why did it take so long for the system to become more efficient?
The simple answer is money, and the fact that we don’t have much of it.
The shuttles, though, have additional drawbacks-problems that cannot be avoided. If a shuttle breaks down, it costs money. If another driver needs to be hired, it costs money. The costs the department endures are not always predictable.
The shuttle service offers all that is within their means. They have made many improvements this year to provide a better assistance to students, including adding another shuttle to the force.
For a while they even accommodated people who weren’t able to drive themselves to Wal-Mart. Every weekend, a shuttle would drop students off in the Wal-Mart shopping center and then pick them up a few hours later. Great idea, right? Everyone thought so until this past week, when suddenly the Bobcat Shuttles announced these weekend trips would have to stop immediately because of insurance reasons-another unpredictable problem that ultimately inconveniences students.
The Voice talks a lot about the number of student complaints, and rarely comments on how difficult it can be to address them. Faculty and staff face problems they can’t solve. Students face problems they can’t solve.
Could this be a foundation to build a stronger student-employee relationship?
If all students understood that sometimes, no matter how important our issues seem, they can’t compare to the things our administration deals with. We might be worried about shuttle service, while they’re making sure that in five years there is a place to house all students who need it.
By no means are all student complaints trivial. In many cases, they aren’t. In that situation, the roles must be reversed and it’s the professors who must understand that students have important problems, too.
If we can get past this together, the road ahead, no matter how crowded the shuttles, will be calm.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 11 2005. Filed under Our Voice.
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