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Rutgers students begin bus courtesy campaign

Students crowd into a bus outside Scott Hall on the College Avenue campus. – Photo by Photo by Jennifer Han | The Daily Targum

Santiago Garcia, who drives the A bus between College Avenue and Busch campuses, often witnesses students quick to step on board his bus before others have stepped off.

During the night shift he used to work, Garcia witnessed other violations of bus etiquette.

“People [were] acting wild and jumping all around and going crazy,” he said.

To alleviate this problem, the Rutgers University Student Assembly is in the preliminary stages of developing its bus courtesy campaign, said Ian Wolf, the public relations chair of RUSA.

Wolf, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said the idea to implement the campaign sprung from student responses to a question about the quality of transportation services on RUSA’s “What’s On Your Mind?” survey, administered in November of 2013.

“The survey is how RUSA, the student government, can gauge a pulse of what the students at the University want to see their student government fix,” he said.

Many students indicated the desire to see more students become aware of bus etiquette, such as how to wait for people to properly get off the bus before boarding.

Students have also complained about others placing their belongings on open seats despite a shortage of seats, said Jake Nieman, the university affairs chair for RUSA.

Having students stand because backpacks occupy open seats is not only inconsiderate, but also unsafe, Nieman said.

“To one person that seems like just one seat, but on a bigger scale, it can get frustrating for students who have to ride the buses all the time,” said Nieman, a School of Arts and Sciences junior.

Nieman is a commuter student who totes a 30-pound backpack on certain days.

“When you’ve got a backpack with a laptop and textbooks, it can be really tough — it can be really tough to fight the urge to put it on the seat next to you,” he said.

The public relations arm of RUSA is working with the Department of Transportation Services at the University to put out instructions on how to properly get on and off the bus to increase efficiency.

DOTS is also considering a series of changes, including weatherproofing bus stops and NextBus stations, reverting back to letter buses on the weekends and incorporating WiFi on the buses, Wolf said.

RUSA has been working on several issues with transportation services — bus etiquette is just one of the more narrowly focused topics, he said.

“I see it as systematic — if we can teach students to be more effective and efficient in the ways they’re getting to class, transportation services can help with the more macro level in getting people there,” he said.

RUSA has tentative plans to post handouts and flyers on all of the buses and NextBus stations in the coming months to teach current students how to properly get on and off buses, said Ariana Blake, a RUSA member.

Blake, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said students entering the University in the fall of 2014 may learn of the campaign at their orientation from a brief video.

“We are hoping that it has a big impact on next year’s class,” she said.

RUSA faces some challenges in implementing the campaign, such as how receptive students will be to the project, Wolf said.

“Making sure people know we’re doing it for everyone and that we’re all in this together will be a challenge, but I think we can make it work,” Nieman said.


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