Essay – Citibus Service at Texas Tech
University
Both
students and teachers spend hours travelling back and forth between their
residence and school. Bus service provide a huge transportation facility for
the students. Bus service reduces the problem of nation’s increasing demand for
energy. It is also economical and could reduce the environmental issues to some
extent. A large number of students use public transportation at the schools.
Taking the case of Texas Tech University (TTU), a majority of students travel
in buses within campus. TTU provides citibus service for the students who get
enrolled for courses. Student’s transportation fees are included within their
tuition fee. One can find buses almost crowded at peak times like lunch hours. TTU
provides bus service for its students even off campus such as Walmart, mall and
to some of the off campus housings. Though TTU provides on campus housing, some
students prefer to stay off campus. Bus service is a huge benefit for both students
living on campus and off campus. Though bus service is a preferred
transportation at TTU, students come across some issues while using bus service
for the transportation.
Firstly,
since student parking of personal vehicles is a major issue at TTU, they have
to travel in buses though they own a personal vehicle. This results in
overcrowding in buses at some peak times such as early morning at around 8 AM, lunch
hours and after 5 PM when students start getting back home. It becomes really
difficult for the driver to accommodate all the students in seats. Some
students have to stand throughout and when overcrowded, they have to stand at
the opening of the bus which is not safe. However, sometimes during the day,
buses are all empty and still driver has to run the bus. TTU has to take some
action regarding this issue. TTU should insist that citibus service increase
frequency of buses at peak times and reduce the frequency when not needed.
Another
issue is non availability of bus service during summer and winter breaks and even
during weekends. TTU offers courses during summer, and students who enrol in
summer courses have to walk to the university. As the temperature during the
months of July and August is unbearable, students find it very difficult to
walk to the university. TTU has half of the population of graduate students in
all majors who work during summer and winter breaks. Some students use their
bikes to travel during summer, whereas in winter, the bridges and roads may ice
and it is not even possible for students to use their bikes. This really is a
problem for students who work in summer and winter breaks. Students who work
during these breaks are even willing to pay an additional fare for the
transportation. Taking this into consideration, TTU has to make sure that some
sort of transportation system is available for students during these breaks.
Of all,
the major problem is during working days, when it comes to scheduled
transportation hours of the bus. Bus service starts early at 7AM and ends at
7PM. After these scheduled hours, TTU provides safe night and safe ride. These
are available for students who need transportation other than the scheduled
hours of citibus. But, students have to wait for long after they make a call to
request for these special services, because not much frequency of these
transportation facility is available. Hence, some students prefer walking late
nights. We hear many campus crime alerts at TTU and students who walk alone are
prone to these situations. Many other schools provide bus facility even late at
night for their students. This helps reducing the crime on campus to some
extent and also saves time for students. TTU needs to focus on this problem and
should try to solve this issue as early as possible.
In
conclusion, Texas Tech University should take into account, the problems
encountered by students while choosing citibus for transportation. As we hear
most of the crime alerts that we get notice of were faced by students who walk
alone late night. TTU has to take immediate action for the convenience and
safety of students. Early action is appreciated.
Bhargavi Gude
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