Students spread out in the grass, shuffling around as people walk past on the sidewalk. The new bus stops behind Knight Hall don’t have a designated waiting space, just a plastic sign to remind riders that there is a bus stop there at all.
The campus bus route has been changing ever since construction on 15th Street interrupted the normal route in March, and the changes have caused mixed feelings among students.
“This whole chain is very inconveniencing,” said Kai Wilson, a sophomore studying botany. “I feel bad for people working in animal sciences because the bus doesn’t really go out there anymore.”
“I take the bus every day,” said Lachlan Brown, a History and Religious Studies major.
“It’s not really a big deal getting to school,” he said, “but going back home […] It takes I think six and a half minutes longer—I timed it one time—and that’s kind of annoying.”
Paul Kunkel, director of Transportation Services, said he’s trying to keep the bus route reliable despite the setbacks.
“We’re still running every 10 minutes, still the same number of buses, but it has caused some inconveniences,” he said. “We weren’t expecting to change the route until this summer.”
Construction on 15th Street expanded to block the Union bus plaza ahead of schedule, which necessitated the new bus stop location behind Knight Hall.
“We tried to find a spot as close to the Union as possible, thinking about accessibility concerns, being close to core campus, being able to navigate our larger buses to a spot somewhere close to the union,” Kunkel said. “There weren’t a lot of options that we could maintain legal ADA accessibility with our buses. It was a quick decision [that] had to be made.”
In addition to the new dorm buildings near the Union and the two roundabouts under construction on 15th Street, a new bus plaza will be built closer to 15th Street to replace the old one.
Kunkel expects the bus route to stay the same until the new bus plaza opens around the summer of 2025. Until then, he said he hopes to install shelters at the temporary bus stops.
“I stood out there a few times myself. It was cold,” he said.
For many students on campus, the new bus route only worsened complaints they already had.
“I would drive a lot more if I could find parking reliably,” said Dylan Salgado, an Energy Resource Management and Development major.
Paola Terrazas, a studio art major, was one of many students who said taking the bus impacted her schedule.
“Sometimes the wait times are just really long. You have to leave so much earlier to get on the bus and to arrive on time,” she said.
Other students said they were glad to have the bus.
“I live right next to the bus stop, so I feel like it’s really convenient to not have to worry about warming up my car, especially in the winter. And I never have to worry about scraping it off before class, I can just walk out my door and be at the bus stop in less than a minute,” said Brown. “I feel like I would use [the bus] regardless if there were more parking.”
Michael Kleiber, a pharmacy major, agreed.
“I already pay so much to come here, so why not use the bus offer that’s given to us?”
Kunkel said his goal is to continue offering bus service as efficiently and safely as possible.
“We’re really looking forward to opening this new 15th Street bus plaza in the summer of ‘25,” he said. “Be patient along the way. Give honest feedback back to our department if you need to about the things we can improve on or issues that students are seeing. We’re happy to take a look at things and make adjustments as possible and make it a good experience for students.”
