Without a vehicle to travel between campuses, the average student is at the mercy of the University bus system.
NextBus GPS aims to make trips a bit easier, but the lack of the system at the Livingston Student Center has often left those going to and from Livingston campus in the dark.
“It would be really useful if there were a NextBus sign over here,” said Avantika Khullar, a Rutgers College senior. “I remember when the buses used to come in here and there were signs.”
Khullar, who was waiting for an LX bus to travel back to College Avenue after a class, said the system would be most helpful to those who travel to the Cook/Douglass campuses and need the REXL, which arrives on Livingston less frequently.
Katherine Germak travels on the REXL bus to get from her dormitory on Douglass to a class on Livingston. She said she is often frustrated with the bus to the campus.
“The REXLs don’t come often enough,” said Germak, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. “It’s a huge problem … an L [bus] will pass, an LX [bus] will pass [and] I have to wait 25 minutes for a REXL [bus].”
She said improvements at the student center may help, but NextBus is usually wrong and the bus system needs reform.
Many students are unaware of the recent improvements.
The University Department of Transportation has installed two LED screens in the lobby of the student center to replace the screen that was in place prior to the center’s construction, said Jack Molenaar, director of the University Department of Transportation Services.
The new flat-screen monitors connect to the Internet and incur a one-time cost, unlike the former screens that required a monthly fee in order to operate, Molenaar said.
Livingston Campus Dean Lea Stewart sympathized with student frustrations.
“We need to recognize that our students in New Brunswick spend a considerable amount of time waiting for buses,” Stewart said. “Buses are an important part of campus life.”
The University must make sure it does all it can to accommodate the needs of students, she said.
Though the new screens are meant to help students, oftentimes they are not operating, Molenaar said. Transportation Services will investigate the problem, which may be due to electrical glitches.
But Molenaar said mobile Web accessibility might make GPS tracking of buses obsolete in a decade.
“As more and more people get Internet on their phones, the less we really need the screens because you can get the NextBus info on your phones,” Molenaar said.
Jean Rodriguez, a Livingston resident who takes the REXL to a writing class on Douglass campus, said transportation has not been much of a concern for him thus far.
“I live in the [Lynton] Towers, so I just look online and then come [to the stop],” said Rodriguez, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student.
Lack of NextBus signs yields student frustration
Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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